JOO BUNGALOWS 


of irchitectural Distinction 


BARUEAUUeHTENEE 
EUAN UALS 


i. 


oo a Ain lianas Aas 


SMALL HOMES 
OF ARCHITECTURAL DISTINCTION 


Plans and Service 


By 


THe ARCHITECTS SMALL Houssz SERVICE BUREAU 
THE HOME BUILDER’S LIBRARY 


le [ HE houses shown in this book have been designed 

by The Architects’ Small House Service Bureau. 

Although we have called it a collection of bunga- 
lows there is included a number of houses not exactly of 
this class, for they have rooms in the second story. Every 
design though has at least one bedroom in the first story 
and most of them are complete without the second story 
rooms. 


Some of the homes as shown differ in minor detail from 
the original drawings. For example, in certain of the de- 
signs porches have been added, the materials have been 
varied, the size and location of the windows. slightly 
changed, and so on. In the main, however, the essential 
features of the original designs have been maintained. 


In preparing these designs the architects have had con- 
stantly before them the three essential elements which 
combined make good architecture. These are: first, good 
plans, well arranged, commodious, free from extrava- 
gances; second, sound methods of construction, which if 
followed by the contractor will insure minimum depre- 
ciation; and third, fine appearances. With these principles 
always in mind the houses have been designed to be built 
at reasonable building costs. They represent the power of 
a great national association of architects, which has been 
devoted to the service of the small home builder. 


It is possible that you may not find your ideal home 
plan in the pages of this book. A home builder seldom 
finds his exact requirements in a design found in any 
plan book. However, The Architects’ Small House Serv- 
ice Bureau is ready to help you. In all it has prepared 
and made available to the small home builder more than 
three hundred plans of houses from three to six rooms 


in size. The designs shown on the pages of this book are 
merely representative of this large library. They have 
been selected as illustrations of fine small homes and for 
your inspiration and pleasure. 


If you are planning to build a small home and do not 
find in this book the design you have in mind, and if you 
will state your requirements to the publisher whose name 
appears on the front cover of this book, you will be told 
how at small cost you may obtain illustrations of other 
designs selected for you in view of your special require- 
ments by the technical staff of The Architects’ Small House 
Service Bureau. This service will save you time, trouble, 
and money. 


The Architects’ Small House Service Bureau is an or- 
ganization of leading architects from cities all over the 
United States, who have associated for the single purpose 
of aiding the builders of small homes to obtain at moder- 
ate cost many of the architectural advantages which build- 
ers of larger homes enjoy. Its’ purpose is to help the 
small home builder who for any reason is unable to 
employ an individual practicing architect. 


The Architects’ Small House Service Bureau of the 
United States and its nine regional Bureaus is the only 
public service body of its kind in the United States operat- 
ing under the control of The American Institute of Archi- 
tects and with the endorsement of the United States De- 
partment of Commerce. 


The Bureau is a professional organization set up to 
protect your interests. It is waiting to serve and help you, 
as it has helped thousands of other home builders, to build 
a home of better design, better construction, and more per- 
manent values. 


NOTICE 


THE PLANS AND EDITORIAL MATTER APPEARING IN 
THIS BOOK ARE FULLY PROTECTED UNDER THE 
COPYRIGHT LAW AND CANNOT BE REPUBLISHED 


Wit OuUn 


THE PERMISSION 


OFF iE EA WiliLORS, 


COPYRIGHTED 10927 


THE ARCHITECTS’ 
BUREAU 


CONTROLLED BY 


THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS 


SMALL HOUSE SERVICE 


BUREAU ING: 


BY 


SMALL HOUSE 
OF THE UNITED STATES, 


SERVICE 
INC. 


ENDORSED BY 
THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 


Trade Mark Registered 


1OO-BUNGALOWS 


SECTION 1. 
FRAME CONSTRUCTION 
EXTERIORS OF SIDING, SHINGLES AND STUCCO 


Of Frame and Masonry Construction 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE 


ORIGIN OF THE MODERN 


HE bungalow got its name from India, 

but it got its style and its plan and 
everything about it that makes it liveable 
from our own American architects. In 
India it is a lightly built structure for resi- 
dence with verandas on all four sides and 
a widely projecting roof. Many will recall 
bungalows with these characteristics that 
were so common in this country some years 
ago. 

But the idea of a one story house is by 
no means restricted to India. One story 
houses have been built in European coun- 
tries for centuries. In France and England 
they were called cottages. In fact, we called 
our own small houses by this name until 
very recent years. The cottages of the 
Europeans have influenced our small house 
design strongly. Our own architects have 
made much of the intimacy and charm, the 
qualities of home, which the cottagers of 
the Old World put into their homes. 

Our architects have not failed to realize 


how different is our scheme of living, how 
essential that the arrangement of the house 


architectural 
In the second story is an extra 


Distinguished for its 
beauty. 
bedroom and large storage space. 


conform to the way the housewife does her 
work. The forms of walls and roofs, doors 
and windows, have been adapted to our 
use. The plan of the house is as Ameri- 
can as the Star Spangled Banner. 


The plan is an adaptation of most of the 


SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 3-A-2 


BUNGALOW 


accommodations found in two story dwell- 
ings to an arrangement in which most of 
the rooms are in one story. In well planned 
bungalows, there must be a distinct separa- 
tion between living and sleeping quarters. 
A bungalow in which one goes into bath 
room or bed rooms directly from living 
room or dining room is illy conceived. To 
achieve this necessary separation between 
the two parts and still to maintain economy 
of construction and saving in space requires 
skill. That is the architect’s work. 


The bungalow may and often does rep- 
resent the least expensive form of house, 
but in certain types of bungalows rooms 
are made to ramble out pleasantly, enclos- 
ing court yards or patios, and then costs 
mount up, as they must. Bungalows with 
extended foundations and much roof area 
necessarily are more costly. In this book we 
have shown both types—one for the man 
whose funds are limited and one for the 
man who can afford to spend more. Here 
are shown basementless houses and others 
with basements, a wide variety for choice. 


OnE HunprRED BUNGALOWS 


Ot emretenrns 2 lame 


ssrecnoam eS wy TLR ARO 


A LITTLE KINGDOM OF YOUR OWN 


A Group of Small Detached Homes Providing 
Apartment Equipment 


DESIGN 3-A-3 


——-——_——————-23)- 6° ——$______--—_» 


Shae eT 
mwa Ki 


LIVING ROOM 


16-6" x 1176" 


DESIGN 3-A-1 


KITCHENS 


1W6"« ioe J 


LIVING 
ROOM 


PL Rott LOO Re 5 
CFILING HEIGHT oa 


DESIGN 3-A-7 


LIVING ROOM 


21-0" « 11-6" 


t 


0 
7 


+ 


= ERS oh ees Re 


CEILING HEIGHT 844" 


The walls, openings, and roof have 
been skilfully modeled to get fine 
balance. Additional decoration is 
unnecessary. Living room of gen- 
erous proportions, beautifuily light- 
ed with large windows. 


ierene vOut bees UpltAD) EpRees lo 1B RAR VY 


DESIGN 3-B-1 


es 


twrey Foo 


LIVING LOOM 


ra'-o'« 13 -2* 


fire- 
bed, 
storage closets—the conven- 


A plan replete with luxuries; 
place, dining alcove, closet 
many 
iences of an 
house. 


apartment in a small 


LIVING 
ROOM 


1I3°6" = 15°67 


Shutters would greatly improve 
the appearance of this house 
The drawings call for them. 


REY ST! 


BED LOOM 
10'0'k 10-6" 


ra Hatt 
rE EE A NT TT hes ea 
Bu 8 6 


LIVING LOOM 


m+ ok 13'=0% 


Four main rooms, dining alcove, bath, and 
closets, all on one floor. An arched beam 
opening makes living room and dining alcove 
practically one room. 


DESIGN 4-A-2 


OWE SHU ND RED BiG GA hows 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 4-A-9 


SIX BUNGALOWS WITH PLANS ESSENTIALLY ALIKE 


The plan below belongs to this bungalow 


and the one at the right. 


es ia 280° —+ 


Oo OK ITCHEN 
pace) 13-O'#)/-O" 


BED ROOM 
13-O% 


=| KITCHEN Ta 
AIG 0" 


LIVING 
ROOM 
11°6"x 17-0" 


34-0 


Wi rrothe Pitter 


rhea OMMere sOrUni Ds RaiSe le eB ReArR TY 5 


The Bungalows In This Book Represent a Selected 
Group From The Designs of The Architects’ 
Small House Service Bureau 


DESIGN 4-A-14 


LIVING 
ROOM 


The owner increased the size of the dining alcove, making it a full size dining room. 
There is space and ventilation in the attic for a third bedroom. 


DESIGN 4-A-13 


rape 266! s t a 
: ; 


9 

LIVING , 
ROOM 
ie" 2"x 3-4" 

—t 

FIRST FLOOR % 

CEILING HEICHT 8-6" 4 

= 


Reminiscent of Pennsylvania Dutch architecture. To decrease costs the porch may be 
built open. An extra room in the attic. Shutters are necessary for its fine appearance. 


DESIGN 4-A-8 


Zs 


: aay 


WER 


Se 
Prag 


retin 


=. 


ame 


WaMu vanias ili nih ay sRemoaase hl we Fu 
ne Cinna 


Ra FIRST FLOOR 


CEILING HEIGHT 8-o* 


san 


BYU CUT CER eee 


The main roof and cornice have been extended to embrace the porch, thus giving an appearance 
of greater breadth. A plan of few rooms but much useful space. 


6 One Hunvpred BUNGALOWS 


Orher Designs With These Basic Floor 
Plans Appear Throughout 
This Book. 


LIVING ROOM 
yarn 169 


Reaal a 


TI a 


DESIGN 4-E-1 
This home has a plan similar to those on pages 4 and 5. Notice the clever arrangement of 


kitchen with built-in dining alcove in well lighted corner. An excellent example of the theory 
that a small home may he as comfortable and attractive as many a more expensive dwelling. 


DESIGN 4-A-15 


ze ee 
KITCHEN |43 


paul 


IK 
HT 
ALON 


iv 
: 
i 


DINING 

ROOM LIVING ROOM 

10°6" = I1'0" Tee : 

i tel ed 
eh 


This home and the one below have similar plans with dining room and living room across the 
front. Each may have one or two additional bedrooms in the second story. 


DESIGN 4-A-26 


r | ZO-\\ ; 


25°8"_ 


DINING RGM LIVING ROOM 
Ho"x 1-4" Il-4°X 17-6" 


ee 


o 
~ 


VON2C YH 
{= SS sg —} _ 


In order to keep construction costs at a 
minimum the fireplace has been omitted. 
It may be added if the owner desires. 


ree o nts bau. Due Re S lomeB RACREY 


How To FIGURE THE Cost OF OWNING A HOME 
How Much Can the Home Builder Afford to Pay for the Privilege 


VERY prospective home builder should 

analyze his home financing from the 
same unsentimental viewpoint that a banker 
would assume. He should know exactly 
how much his house and lot will cost, how 
much money of his own he will have, 
exactly how much it will be necessary to 
borrow, and the cost of securing these 
necessary funds. 


There are other items that also should 
be given due weight. Perhaps the most 
important of these is how much the home 
builder can afford to pay for his home. 
He must not overestimate his present finan- 
cial strength or the stability of his income. 
He must neither be too optimistic about 
probable increases in salary, or fail to take 
into account possible misfortunes of one 
kind or another. Finally he must meas- 
ure his home building expenditures in terms 
of what he can reasonably expect to save 
over a term of years. 


After all these questions have been an- 
swered on a purely practical basis, from 
studying all the facts and without bias, it 
is a relatively easy matter to determine 
how much one is justified in putting into his 
home and therefore how much it will cost 
from month to month and year to year, in 
the form of rent, to take care of all the 
expenses that go with home building and 
home owning. For every householder pays 
rent. Even though one owns his home 
without owing a dollar on it, he pays rent 
to himself and to others, just as surely as 
though he had paid it to a landlord. From 
knowing what one is justified in paying as 
rent, it is possible to determine how much 
one may reasonably invest in his own home. 
We can work backward from this basis— 
we can find out the total value of the house 
and lot that would be represented by the 
rent which the home builder is justified in 
paying, and then work out a financing 
scheme from that knowledge. 


Let us start then with the rent problem. 
Rent is made up of all the items that con- 
tribute to the whole cost of maintaining a 
home. Under this head may be listed the 
following : 


ExtTrRA ACCOMMODATIONS 


IRST, interest on the home builder’s 

own funds invested in his home. If this 
money were out on interest it would yield a 
definite sum, depending on how it was in- 
vested. If it were in a savings bank, it 
would yield 31%4% or 4%, and if it were in 
first mortgage bonds the return might be 
5% or 6%. Whatever the basis of interest, 
this is an income which the home builder 
will not receive directly once his money is 
invested in his home. Theoretically this may 
be charged as one of the items of rent, but 
many people believe that this loss of income 
on their own equity is more than balanced 
by the extra accommodations they receive 
in living in their own homes. But let us 


of Living in His Own Home? 


charge it all to rent and then if any part of 
this sum should be credited out and charged 
to “extra accommodations” we can do so at 
the end. 


The second item of rent is that of interest 
on the borrowed money. This is a charge 
that the home builder is obliged to meet at 
regular intervals, depending on the provi- 
sions of the mortgage or contract papers. 
The borrowed money is a commodity for 
the use of which the home builder pays a 
service or rental charge in the form of in- 
terest. Obviously it is wise not to pay too 
much for the privilege of using this money 
or to engage to repay it more rapidly than 
will be reasonably possible within expected 
income. 


How Taxes ARE FIGURED 


HE third item in rent is taxes. The 

basis on which real properties are taxed 
varies with the locality. One may learn the 
tax rate in his community, and the method 
used in applying this against properties 
there. Perhaps the type of house which it 
is planned to build in a certain district may 
be represented on nearby properties, and 
by learning the taxes on these, a fairly ac- 
curate estimate may be made of what the 
charges will be on a new home. The tax 
rate is usually applied against an “as- 
sessed valuation,’ which is usually a sum 
considerably less than the actual cost of the 
house and lot. In one large city the as- 
sessor looks over a property and approxi- 
mates its real value. He then turns in an 
appraised valuation equal to about 75% 
of his estimated real valuation. The tax 
rate, which in that city is about $70.00 per 
$1,000 of assessed valuation, is applied 
against 40% of the appraised value. In 
other cities the method differs. 


The home builder should make sure also 
of any special assessments that may have 
been laid against his property for munici- 
pal improvements such as sidewalks, sewer, 
lighting, street paving. These last are not 
really items of rent. They are more prop- 
erly classed as a part of the capital outlay 
involved in building a home. 


The fourth and fifth items are water 
rent, and insurance. These are met by the 
landlord and are presumably included with- 
in his rental charge. The home owner will 
have to pay them in turn. He will also be 
obliged to carry sufficient insurance to re- 
imburse the agencies who have loaned 
money in case of loss of the house by fire 
or tornado. He may decide to carry addi- 
tional protection to cover his own equity, 
and if he is wise he will do so. The total 
charge for insurance to cover the property 
can be learned from any insurance agent 
by giving him the location of the property, 
the type of construction that will be em- 
ployed, and the amount of coverage de- 
sired. 


The sixth item is the cost of maintenance. 
When the house is rented from a landlord, 
the standard provision is that the landlord 
shall maintain the house in good repair and 
shall do all necessary painting and decorat- 
ing, keep the plumbing in working order, 
and meet other incidental expenses of the 
kind. These expenses are, of course, ab- 
sorbed by the landlord out of the rent 
money he receives. The home owner pays 
them on his own property. However, when 
one owns his own home, expenses of this 
kind tend to be lower than they are in 
rented properties, as greater care is exer- 
cised. The home owner may make many 
of the repairs himself. The amount to be 
charged on this account varies with the 
age of the house. In a well built house one 
per cent may be sufficient for each of the 
first five years. After that the cost of 
maintenance will mount to a higher rate— 
3% would be about the maximum. 


Finally, there is the item of depreciation 
and obsolescence to be accounted for in 
terms of rent. This is somewhat of a 
theoretical matter. It is based on the as- 
sumption that one should lay aside annually 
a sum equal to the presumed amount of 
depreciation and obsolescence of the house. 
Unlike an automobile, the depreciation is 
low at first and high in later years. The 
yearly sum written off as depreciation 
should be large enough so that when the 
house has served its usefulness and has 
become worn out through wear and tear, 
or is rendered undesirable by being out of 
style, there will have been built up a sum 
equal to that of the original investment. 
An average allowance of about 2% a year 
for a well built house is a fairly accurate 
basis on which to compute obsolescence and 
depreciation. 


Sounb But Not USEFUL 


NE can see in old neighborhoods 

houses of nondescript character and un- 
certain age that are in so bad a state of re- 
pair that it would be unwise to spend any 
considerable sum on them to make them 
livable. They do not yield enough income 
in rent to pay taxes on the land they occupy 
and cannot be made to do so without heavy 
expense. Their age is about forty years. 
Their sale value is not more than the cost 
of demolishing. Therefore they represent a 
depreciation at the average rate of 244% a 
year. 

Another house nearby of better char- 
acter structurally, having been built of 
good materials and, as it happens, rather 
ornately finished with expensive woods 
and with rooms of such generous size 
that one is struck with the difference 
between the modern home and those of 
sixty years past, is also practically a total 
loss. .No one will live in it—the cost of 
heating is too great, the plumbing anti- 
quated, the expense of furnishing and dec- 


8 


orating beyond ordinary means. It is not 
the servantless, self-operating house of to- 
day. It would yield nothing on being de- 
molished. The loss represented is 14% 
a year.of the cost of the house alone. The 
ground area remains, and in the case of 
these particular properties has greatly ap- 
preciated in value. 


Depreciation and maintenance are some- 
times confused, but they are really distinct 
items. Often there is an item of apprecia- 
tion. This applies only to the value of the 
lot itself. The wise home builder will not 
fail to give it proper weight in purchasing 
his property. Some house financing experts 
have said that the lot should be selected 
with the definite end in view of an appre- 
ciation in land values, such that, when the 
mortgages are paid off at the end of ten or 
twelve years, there will be represented a net 
worth of the house and lot equal to the sum 
originally invested in it. 

Let us assume then that you feel it pos- 
sible to own a $6,000 home including a 


OnE HuNnbDRED BUNGALOWS 


been said by competent persons that city 
residential property tends to increase in 
value as a normal experience by 10% a 
year. If this is true and the depreciation and 
obsolescence is set at 2%, then the ratio of 
the cost of the land and cost of the house 
should not be more than one to five. In this 
way the depreciation on a house always 
would be equalized by appreciation in the 
value of the land. 


Rent Cost REDUCED 


F, in the case of the $1,000 lot we have 

been considering, there were an appre- 
ciation of 10% per year, there would be an 
actual balance between the two items of 
depreciation and appreciation. There is no 
really accurate way of adjusting apprecia- 
tion, but, if it can be assumed that this 
item would offset the depreciation charge, 
then the net cost of rent as figured hereto- 
fore would be reduced by $100 per year. 
It is probably thoroughly understood by 
everybody that not one householder in ten 


Tue Cost PrRoGRAM 


1—Interest: 
Interest on equity 


Total interest 


@ 5% —5% of $2,000......... 


de Cesasu Sue are capt ecepeee tate gaaee ree ee eee $ 100.00 
Interest on borrowed money @ 6%—6% of $4,000__...-...-..----.0---ceceseeeceeesceeeeeeeeeeeee 


240.00 


$ 340.00 


2—Taxes (This varies with the city and ward, but in this instance we are applying 
the method of one city as outlined previously herein.) 


75% of $6,000 (appraised value)................-..----. 


40% of $4,500 (assessed valuation).. 


S7Omperssls000NOTE S180 0s eames mene 


Total taxes 
3—Insurance: 


4,500.00 
- 1,800.00 
126.00 


126.00 


Fire—80% of $5,000 for 3 years @ $7.50 per $1,000...............---cee--ceecceeee $30.00 


Porsd vy Carne ce nce oecec teat app core eee 
Tornado—60% of $5,000 for 3 years @ $4.00 per $1,000 
For x yearicncc eet. ceec tte oreoeae cteag no eaves 


Total msurances yearly sec seectes ceases ee 


4—Water rent (average yearly) .....1.--.-...-scccsssceeeccceneees 
5—Maintenance—1%4% average yearly (on both house and lot)—1%% of $6,000. 


6—Depreciation and obsolescence (on house only) —2% of $5,000......0....22.2---1-1e-2eececeeeceeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeee 


Total) yedrlys expensen sce eee eee 
Total monthly expense (rent)...--............-..-...- 


56.17 


garage. Of this $6,000, $1,000 is represent- 
ed by the value of the lot, which you own, 
and you have in addition $1,000 in cash, so 
that your total equity is $2,000. You will 
find it necessary to borrow $4,000. Assum- 
ing that you may borrow this on a first 
mortgage your computations will follow ap- 
proximately the cost program outlined 
above. 


INCREASED VALUES 


HUS the total cost of rent comes to 
$674 a year or about $56 a month, which 
on the face of it is not such an extraordi- 
narily large sum for the privilege of owning 
a $6,000 home. And remember this does not 
take into account at all the extra value you 
get in a home designed and built as you 
want it, on a lot located where you prefer to 
live. Furthermore, this does not necessari- 
ly represent the amount of money one 
would have to pay on account of owning 
his own home. 
For example, the charge for deprecia- 
tion and obsolescence on the value of the 
house may be offset completely by appre- 


ciation on the value of the land. It has 


thousand actually builds up a fund to meet 
depreciation and obsolescence. 


From this reasoning the average net 
cost per month for rent would be $47.83. 
It is understood, of course, that this does 
not represent the actual “pay-out” per month. 
Interest on the home builder’s equity would, 
for example, not be paid out. However, if 
this interest were deducted from rent it 
would also have to be deducted from in- 
come so that the net experience would be 
the same. Furthermore, there might be a 
saving on “maintenance,” but it would be 
conservative to figure this item in about 
as stated. 

On the other hand “pay-out” may be sub- 
stantially increased through savings which 
the home builder may make and apply on 
his property, thus increasing his equity 
therein. He may find it necessary to accu- 
mulate funds for the purpose of reducing 
the mortgage so that at the end of ten or 
twelve years he will own the property out- 
right. 

For example, in this home we have been 
considering, the home builder may do his 
financing through a Building and Loan As- 


sociation, under the rules of which he will 
agree to pay into that Association $12.50 
per month per thousand borrowed. In this 
case he will have borrowed $4,000. There- 
fore, the dues to the Building and Loan As- 
sociation will be $50.00 a month. This 
money represents not only amortization and 
pay-off on the principal sum borrowed, but 
also the interest thereon. 


Therefore, to determine how much money 
would have to be paid out on a scheme of 
financing of this sort, we would take all of 
the items in the above list with the excep- 
tion of the interest on the borrowed money, 
for this would be accounted for in the 
money paid to the Building and Loan As- 
sociation. We would also eliminate the de- 
preciation and obsolescence allowance un- 
der circumstances where it seemed logical 
to assume that there would be appreciation 
to balance depreciation. 

Under such circumstances, and applying 
this process of financing in the case we are 
considering, the home owner’s monthly pay- 
out on all accounts would amount to $77.83 
per month. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that this sum not only represents the 
cost of housing one’s family, but also in- 
cludes savings which at the end of ten or 
twelve years will wipe out the sum origi- 
nally borrowed. 


Goop PLaNns NECESSARY 


HIS is simply a typical case and prob- 

ably will not fit accurately anyone’s par- 
ticular problem. It is cited to show the 
process by which one may arrive at the cost 
of home owning so that he may go about 
determining the proper extent of his in- 
vestment. 

It has been argued, and wisely so we 
think, that the cost of rent as above de- 
duced should have credited against it also 
a sum which would approximate the extra 
value that the home owner gets. The pro- 
posal is that the home builder estimate as 
well as he can in money the actual worth 
of the extra pleasure and accommodation 
he derives in owning his own home. Some 
have said that this is easily equal to the 
interest on the home builder’s equity and 
that it should be charged to pleasure and 
not to “rent” no matter how wisely it may 
have been spent. If this is true, the cost of 
home ownership is reduced still further. 

In any event, the home builder must work 
out for himself a financial statement includ- 
ing the items we have listed and properly 
adjusted to the circumstances and thus 
finally arrive at the net cost of owning his 
own home. 

If this net cost seems too large in propor- 
tion to the home builder’s income on the 
basis of the size and quality of house which 
he has assumed he could build, the only way 
by which he can own his own home would 
be for him to reduce the cost of home build- 
ing either by buying a less expensive lot or 
by building a less expensive home, or by 
both. 

Having found the approximate sum 
which it is wise to invest, the next step is 
to get a good set of plans and specifications. 
Let us emphasize the fact that these must 
be chosen wisely on the basis of what the 
home builder has deduced from the fore- 
going analysis would be the maximum he 
should allow in his budget for “rent.” 


rH Pee LWOU ba Skteiet DIB yRee Gt leieB oR ACR. Y. 


HOUGHTFUL mothers know many tricks to let clothes out so they may fit 

growing girls and boys who shoot outward and upward. This house is designed 
for such extensions. As the family increases in size it may grow with them. Not 
all houses can be thus enlarged without involving great expense in rearranging 
stairs, hallways, doors, and windows, the plumbing and heating systems. 


Frequently a room or two tacked on after the house is built looks like an after- 
thought, spoils the appearance. But in this home the architects provided in both 
the plan and exterior of the original design for future enlargement. 
sion can be made without interference with the original lay-out of the rooms and 
the construction of the house, and the appearance instead of being injured: will, 


if anything, be improved. 


Construction: wood frame, exterior finish stucco or shingles, roof of shingles. 


Compact SMALL Housg 


DESIGN 3-A-15 


T IS possible to obtain any number of 

plans for three room houses that pro- 
vide the bare bones of living. But here is 
much more than that. The house is small 
but it provides many luxuries. 

There is a fireplace in the living room 
more than eight feet wide, with a broad 
brick hearth. To increase the sleeping ac- 
commodations without adding to space or 
expense, a closet bed has been devised to 
open into the living room. 

Construction: wood frame, exterior finish 
stucco, roof of shingles. 


-Bed RooM- 
15'O" X10°4" 


BORREER 
ed Hearth 


-LiviNG Room: |l 
Wwe" x 1e6'2" 


im 
NE) -KiteHEeN- 
j UN 


WE"'XI6 4% 


The exten- 


A Home TuHat Can Grow 


To Be Built as the Cathedrals 
Were—Little by Little as 
the Money Comes In 


BED ROOM 
Us 189 it 3349-4 


it 


Hevos fund 


BED ROOM FUT 

URE DINING ROOM 

DEN OR'LIBRARY 
S-BAU-@ 


PUTURE STAIR 


| 


FIRST UNIT eile 2 


LIVING ROOM 
1@°@" K13-O 


29’-11” 


DESIGN 3-A-12 


The black lines show how this house can 
be built at first, without the two bedrooms 
at the rear. Even then it will be a com- 
plete house. The dotted lines show future 
extensions and how the rooms may be 
used. 


ie. e* 
Weg? 


on the front of the house. But why 
should it not be placed in this position? 
It is the workshop where many hours 
are spent during the day and deserves 
adequate light, ventilation and sun- 
shine. There is plenty of space be- 
neath the broad window for a kitchen 
table and seats—the informal dining 
nook. Notice the similarity of this 
plan with that of the one above. 
Another house with a similar plan is 
design 5-C-5, on page 19. 


1 be: few homes is the kitchen located 


10 


OnE HUNDRED 


BUNGALOWS 


HE living room is open on three sides and has a ceiling 

with exposed rafters, which with the rough stone fire- 
place, are in keeping with the rustic exterior. The shel- 
tered porch, screened in, offers additional sleeping quarters. 
The enclosed porch may be used for dining. Its many 
windows and easy access to the bathroom make it also an 
ideal sleeping porch. 

Construction: wood frame, exterior finish of rough 
sawed boards or shingles. Instead of plaster inside some 
form of wallboard could be used. The foundations may be 
of local stone. No basement excavation is required. 


a 


DED 


ROOM 


LIVING ROOM_|_ 
19OX 13:0" 


| cabin itself. 


=| room, 


ARCHITECT 


-) 


n 


LIVING ROOM 
(7'-6"x 13-0" 


PORGH 
—~a-—., - 
1-0" x 12'-6 


MALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 4-B-7 


HE plans call for foundation walls of stone and upper walls of wood studs 
faced with square edged boards and wooden battens. The owner substi- 
tuted log siding for exterior treatment, both for the foundation and for the 


The photograph shows how the logs were used to form an inter- 


esting pattern. 
The high foundation gives adequate space for a garage and huge* storage 


THE Homer BurtpeER’s LIBRARY 


1] 


EORGE WASHINGTON and Thomas Jefferson 
built their homes in the same Colonial tradition as 
was followed in the design of this house, only theirs 
were stately mansions while this is a small, compact, 
modern cottage. As the perspective shows, the designer 
intended the porch cornice to be higher and continuous 
with the cornice of the main roof. There is also a 
slight variation in the design of the lattice and arrange- 
ment of windows. 


Construction: wood frame, exterior finish siding. 


WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE? 


MONG many definitions of architecture is this one: ‘‘Archi- 
tecture is putting into building certain qualities—namely, 
logic, strength and beauty.” Do these seem too high sound- 

ing words when applied to small homes? Not when translated into 
familiar terms. 

Logic means making the house convenient, liveable, adaptable to 
both the family and the site. It means straightforwardness of plan 
that results in economy. 

Strength, of course, means building with good materials. It 
means honest construction, durability, long life, low depreciation. 


Beauty results from naturalness, from simplicity and from good 
proportions. It depends upon careful attention to the small details 
as well as to the larger ones. It is the quality that makes the house 
a pleasure to see and to know, and to live in through the years. 


These three combined make good architecture. Without any one 
of these a house is a mere building. It is not architecture. 


The charm of this 
style is unmistak- 
able. In keeping 
with it ts the hos- 
pitable porch 
across the front in 
the Southern man- 
ner. 


LIVING ROOM 


96 © 120° 


STORAGE 


OnE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


DESIGN 4-A-38 


— 42-6" — 


FIRST FLOOR PLAN 


CEILING HEIGHT VARIES. 


This has proven an exceedingly popular design. The 
unique exterior is, of course, one reason, and the 
plan is another. Construction: wood frame, stucco 
finish, roof should be of tile if possible. 


An Unusuat Livinc Room 


HE feature of this bungalow is the 

studio type living room, having a vault- 
ed ceiling, with exposed beams. Across 
the front of the room a triple arched win- 
dow floods the room with light, produces 
a most impressive effect. Extending from 
the living room is the dining alcove. To 
give this a more intimate air, the ceiling 
has been dropped to eight feet and a low 
beam separates it from the living room. 
These two rooms complete the front or liv- 
ing half of the house. Between them and 
the sleeping portion the division is almost as 
distinct as in a two-story house. 


The owner of the house illustrated above 
used spiral columns between the windows 
and wing walls at the sides. These are 
added features, not shown on the original 
drawings. See the perspective drawing 
above. 


THE Home BUurEeDeR s 


DESIGN 4-A-11 


LIVING ROOM 


a 2 8 4 nF 
aaa Fa ay ae i a 
i eS a eT Ey say moo a ae 


LIBRARY 13 


SBOE. _— 
6 TAF 5 toe 27 YA 
Se ST a mn Sat A 


nee eee 
AT LL iB 
os om 
ee 


21t6" K 13-0" 


The columned porch across the front of the 
entire house is suggestive of the fine old 
plantation homes of the South. Construc- 
tion: wood frame, exterior finish wide sid- 


ng. Prom 
4 its 


vy 


pea 


DESIGN 4-A-7 


At the right is a house that is much larger than 
the floor plan discloses, for there is space in 
the attic for two extra bedrooms. Construc- 
tion: wood frame, exterior finish stucco, siding 
in the gable ends, roof of slate or shingles. 


LIVING 


ROOM 
EPC ea fe 


a) Lapel exit: Sac L 


POUR My NUNN RM eH menGR nant si mtandanernciinin. ona 


DESIGN 4-A-3 


KITCHEN 
He<7 ni 17a" 
frame[|PORCH 
TOASTS 


A bungalow after the manner of 
the English cottage. To carry out 
the English spirit the windows have 
casement sash. Construction: wood 
frame, exterior finish stucco, half 
timber work in the gable ends. 


eran be TRE koe 
a TI 


14 OnE HuNnpDRED BUNGALOWS 


The One-Hundred Bungalows In This Book 
Were Selected From Designs By The 
Architects’ Small House 
Service Bureau 


HE design at the left does not have an 

unusual plan excepting in the conven- 
ience it affords. Long test of time by 
many home builders has proved its useful- 
ness. See how living quarters are separated 
from the bedrooms and bath. It is an old 
and tried plan given a new exterior, to 
which the laws of architecture have been 
applied. Many adaptations of this plan ap- 
pear throughout this book. 


on 


DESIGN 5-A-6: 


DROOM 
10}10°X 10-10" 


LIVING ROOM 
2-4x 13-2" 


DESIGN 35-1)-39 


HE five room bungalow shown below is of a 
type that will meet the needs of many a 
young housewife obliged to perform all the opera- 
tions in the management of her home. It will not O the right is an unusual plan 
overtax her strength, nor be too cumbersome to 
finance for the man whose means are limited. 


BED 
Room If 
worxis37 TI 


DINING 
Room: 
Issx 106" 


for a five room house. The ex- 
terior walls of shingles may be 
stained a silver gray, the rough board 
shutters brown. The roof may be of 
variegated colors ranging from rich 
brown to light green. The rustic 
character is accentuated by the forms 
given the door and shutters. 


DESIGN 5-E-4 


t | DINING ROOM 
N-@ «12-0 


LIVING ROON 
(3-0 x 20-0 


BED ROOM 
12-6 X13-0° 


AP ae) 


HomMeE 


BurEepmer S LreBRARY 


15 


THIRTY THINGS To Buy BESIDE FRONTAGE 


There ave Titles Bounderies, Taxes, Transportation, Neighbors 


ing project “on solid ground,” literally 
as well as figuratively, you should “look 
beneath the surface” of the real estate deal 
—figuratively as well as literally! 


[I YOU want to base your home-build- 


A home is more than just a house. By 
the same token, a proper home-site is more 
than just so much dirt. It may or may 
not have the qualities that make it desir- 
able as a permanent location for a dwell- 
ing, and profitable as an investment in real 
property. 

So here is a list of thirty items by which 
to judge whether the lot you are thinking 
of buying is mere real estate or a good 
home-site : 

1. Buy the knowledge of a dependable 
real estate expert; that is, patronize a deal- 
er of high standing in the community. 


2. Buy an appraisal. Consult a second 
disinterested real estate man or a profes- 
sional appraiser and pay him his relatively 
small fee for making an analysis of the 
value of the property before you purchase 
White, 

3. Buy an absolutely clear title. You 
may require the seller to establish his title 
to the property before you buy it, or you 
may employ a lawyer or a title guarantee 
company to search the title for you. This 
is vitally important and is worth the ex- 
pense. 


SUNLIGHT AND EXPOSURE 


4. Buy exact boundaries. Don’t take 
the seller's word as to property lines, but 
see that they are accurately established at 
the time when the title is searched. 


5. Buy sunlight, not smoke and dust. 
If you are going to the trouble of acquir- 
ing your own permanent home, you might 
just as well have it in a location that is 
sure to be healthy for your children. 


6,. Buy exposure to the winds that pre- 
vail in summer. When looking over the 
lot, keep in mind the house you intend to 
place on it and try to see whether or not 
it will be comfortable. 


7. Buy enough land. The minimum 
should be from 40 to 60 feet of frontage. 
Old-style 25 and 28 and 30-foot lots in 
crowded districts are poor investments. 
The wider your lot, the greater your 
chances for a price-increase. 

8. Buy solid earth. In filled-in tracts, 
or “made” land, there always is a danger 
of poor drainage or a chance that the house 
will settle. Either settling or bad drainage 
will damage the structure. 

9. Buy high land. This is necessary if 
drainage is to be satisfactory. A low ly- 
ing lot may mean a waterproofing problem. 

10. Buy level land. Filling a lot to bring 
it up to the desired level is almost as costly 
as excavating. : 

11. Buy land of good shape. A lot of 
irregular outline may prove difficult to sell. 


Set your ideal high—you probably 
will have to modify it, but it's safer 
to modify a high ideal than a low one. 


12. Buy good soil. Remember that ex- 
cavating in rock may prove more expen- 
sive than you wish to undertake, that 
quicksand or other defects of the soil may 
result in damage to your house, but that 
under-surface sand or gravel may be an 
advantage if it is of such quality that it 
can be used for the mortar, plaster or 
SULeEGO. 


13. Buy land fully developed or already 
under development. It is safer, though 
more expensive, than acreage which may 
be developed in the distant future. 


14. Buy water and gas mains, graded 
and paved streets, sewers, walks and curbs 
already installed, or else add the estimated 
cost of taxes for these improvements to 
the price of your lot. Property with all 
these utilities in and fully paid for should 
not cost you more than 30 per cent of the 
total investment you plan to make, though 
20 per cent would be a much safer figure. 
Land without these improvements should 
not cost more than 10 per cent of the total. 


15. Buy moderate taxation. If you have 
any choice as to the state, county or city 
in which you intend to build your home, 
acquaint yourself fully with the taxing 
policy of the authorities and estimate what 
the taxes will add to the cost of maintain- 
ing your dwelling. 


16. Buy good transportation to vour 
work, church, schools and shopping cen- 
ters. Measure the distance, not in miles, 
but in time it takes to get there. The ideal 
home-lot is three or four blocks from 
transportation lines and stations. 


17. Buy good collateral on a building- 
loan; that is, choose a lot on which a bank 
or building and loan association will ad- 
vance you at least 50 or 60 per cent of its 
value. If they won’t lend you more than 
40 per cent you may question whether or 
not you are paying too much. 


18. Buy fire and police protection. See 
that your neighborhood is well served by 
these city departments. 


Wuo Is Your NEIGHBOR 


19. Buy partnership in the community. 
“Restricted residential districts” may serve 
as protection against persons with whom 
your family won't care to associate, pro- 
vided the restrictions are enforced and are 
not merely temporary. 

20. Buy the right to build according to 
your own standard of living. The build- 
ing restrictions may call for a more ex- 


pensive house than you can afford to build 
and maintain. 


21. Buy a_ well-balanced investment. 
That is, don’t put much more or much 
less than one-fifth or one-fourth of your 
total funds into the lot. The construction 
should cost you three or four times the 
purchase price of the land. 


22. Buy a sound investment, so far as 
you and your appraiser can judge future 
values. Population and transportation are 
the two chief elements in increasing home- 
site values. Be sure your property is in 
the line of residential, not industrial or 
commercial, growth of the city. 


23. Buy freedom from easements; in- 
vestigate thoroughly to find out whether or 
not any one has any right to lay pipes or 
erect poles or make a right-of-way on your 
lot. 

24. Buy good location within the block. 
Remember that a corner lot may be double- 
assessed for streets and sidewalks and that 
it will require longer fences. See that 
your lot is such that your neighbor’s kitch- 
en or garage won’t be a nuisance. 


25. Buy a real share of parks, play- 
grounds and schools. An ideal location is 
about half a mile from these. 


26. Buy freedom from traffic dangers 
and noises. A through street may prove 
a menace to your children and to the daily 
comfort and the nightly slumber of the 
whole family. 

27. Buy a chance at future favorable 
development. Examine the chances of pub- 
lic utilities, parks or boulevards being 
brought closer to your property in the fu- 
ture—and then be sure that such develop- 
ments would be to the advantage and not 
to the detriment of the property. 

28. Buy “a sure thing.” If at all pos- 
sible, it would be well for you to rent and 
live in a neighborhood for a year before 
undertaking to buy and build there. 


ALL You See Is Yours 


29.. Buy beauty. Too many trees are 
better than too few; natural objects of 
beauty will save you the cost of develop- 
ment and will help you dispose of the 


property advantageously when the time 
comes. 
30. Buy a home, not a speculation. You 


would accept many things in buying just 
to make money which you wouldn’t con- 
sider if you were buying for permanence. 
Set your ideal high—you probably will have 
to modify it, but it’s safer to modify a high 
ideal than a low one. 

Of course, a home-lot possessing all these 
thirty advantages may be more than an 
ideal—it may be a physical as well as a 
financial impossibility in your town. But 
these are the things you should have in 
mind before you buy. Don’t let any one 
“talk you out of them.” 


ONE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


BASEMENTLESS!--A MAJOR SAVING IN FIRST COSTS 


HE house at the right and the 

one below have similar plans, 
but the exteriors are different. 
One is influenced by Spanish 
forms and the other is in the 
Colonial style. 

These designs, as well as 5-D-17, 
illustrated below, should be of 
especial interest to home builders 
seeking ways of cutting building 
costs for the heating plant is in 
the first story. 

Construction : 30th wood 
frame, 5-D-42 with exterior of 
stucco, roof preferably of tile; 
5-D-43 with exterior finish shingles 
or wide siding, roof of shingles. 


Nez, ty ss 
ale Fy i tes 


ABOVE: DESIGN 5-lD-42 


5 a ReIGN 45-D-43 
BELOW: DESIGN 5-D-4 Gee 


! 9-6 + 12'0 


0 


BLD 200M 
10°0"'*12' 0 


PORCH 
6°6°3 140" 


LIVING ROOM 
14-0 2 18'O° 


ROOM 

100"% 1124" 
¥ DINING ROOM 
© 80" X 1124" 
ro) 

é Ze? DESIGN 5-D-17 
Sa, ioe 

dh 


SIMPLE straightforward comfortable home all on one floor and with no base- 

ment. The heater is located in the hallway and all the rooms have been arranged 

so that air will circulate freely among them. The heater may be either hot water or 

warm air. The home builder may wisely consider how this type of house meets his 
problem. Construction: wood frame, exterior finish wide siding or shingles. 


er pe EOMM be bette Din Re Sele TB ReAGRY 17 


DESIGN 5-D-40 


SLD Loc 
10.0112.0° 


KITCRUN 
4-0 1100, 


FORC! 


A DIVING 200 
. WO" x 120° 
4 
; 
shesort a 
| 
SED LOOM LIVING = 2OON 
20x 12-0" 13-4" x 16-0" 
| 
an ees 


DOLL 
6-07 1 19-0" 


——— 


F you are planning to build a home of 

the most inexpensive type, costing, let 
us say, not to exceed $4,500, you may be in- 
terested to learn that one of the most cer- 
tain ways to reduce costs is to omit those 
things which you do not absolutely require. 
Among other things of this kind is the 
basement. Through omitting the basement 
you may be able to save as much as 15 
per cent of your total building cost. 


On the first thought a cellarless home 
seems to be a radical departure from the 
accepted principles of home construction, 
but this idea is by no means a new one. In 
fact, the complete basement, which we have 
installed in most of our modern small 
homes is a rather recent development. The 
cellarless house for present day use has 
been approved by many architects, includ- 
ing Ernest Flagg—the architect who 
planned the Singer building—and also by 
the Architects’ Small House Service 
Bureau. 


It will not do at all to build a cellarless 
house without taking into consideration 
matters of ventilating the space under- 
neath and removing the top soil and fol- 
lowing out other principles of sound build- 
ing. When a cellarless house is built as 
it should be, the results are satisfactory. 


fig eN a. 


4) 
say 


PEE IY ear : ‘ 
Rae pf oa &, , : 2 
wu wey, Gs Ban 3 whe en Se whom ic oy en 


HE close clipped gables, the severity of line 

and mass, the tile roofs and heavy porch posts 
give these two houses the Spanish mission char- 
acter which is so much in vogue in Southern 
lands. 


The omission of the basement and the provision 
for laundry trays, fuel bins, and storage space 
on the back porch make these bungalows partic- 
ularly suitable for southern lands, but they need 
not be restricted to warm climates alone. 
is provision in the hall for a heating plant of 
adequate size to heat the whole house in coldest 
weather. 


There 


Construction: wood frame, stucco exterior, roof 
preferably of tile. 
as both houses have practically the same room 
arrangement. 


Only one floor plan is shown 


Sid ey % 
, a a \% < 5 
seat h - 4 ra 
eh Tk as aN Nai ¥ % 
Ne ee 4 Pe 4s 
Wiig AL 


DESIGN 5-D-41 


OMITTING THE BASEMENT TO LOWER COSTS 


Often home builders think that a home 
must have a cellar to be comfortable in 
every way, but a home built properly with- 
out a cellar is dry and warm. Insurance 
men have shown us also that since many a 
fire starts in the basement, where it gains 
great headway before it is found, a cellar- 
less house is less in danger from fire than 
a house with a basement. 


A cellarless house also may be very 
beautiful, for being built close to the earth, 
it hugs the ground and gives an air of 
shelter and protection. A house that is 
built close to the ground has an appear- 
ance of always having belonged there. It 
has a more homelike atmosphere. But 
certainly to the prospective home builder 


who must build inexpensively, cellarless 
houses will appeal chiefly for their 
economy. 


As to the necessity of providing the cel- 
lar as a place to locate the house heater, 
there are various forms of ground floor 
heaters on the market which heat five or 
six rooms very comfortably. It may be 
said for the house you are planning to 
build that one of these ground floor heat- 
ers will not only save you part of the cost 
of the basement, but will heat your house 
adequately. In any case, it is certainly ad- 


visable for anyone who is planning to build 
to investigate the cellarless plan. 


It is not intended that these statements 
shall be of a sweepingly general nature. 
The idea of the cellarless house is simply 
presented for careful thought to the one 
who must build at the least expense. The 
answer as to whether or not the basement 
will be used depends very much on the 
particular case. Certainly it will not be 
satisfactory to everyone, but before you pay 
out money for a cellar, prove to yourself 
first that the cellar is worth what it costs. 


The three bungalows opposite and the 
two on this page are designed for mild 
climates. They do not have basements and 
the plans do not provide for them. The 
heating plants are located on the first floor. 
However, basements could be arranged to 
accommodate central heating plants. In 
any case, if the walls, floors and ceilings 
were thoroughly insulated, as they should 
be in every home, these houses may be kept 
warm in cold climates and cool where it is 
sultry. There is no reason why these 
bungalows could not be constructed in any 
section of the country. As designed they 
are suitable for warm climates, and they 
can be made comfortable for the severest 
climates. 


18 


OnE HUNDRED 


BUNGALOWS 


SE SSS ——TATTATUUT WTA 


Wale LINC 


TANS 1A 
reel TUNER 


TAY Kons SPM a ui Ae 


VAM 


SE: 

——— 

7, TEOUTTTR iia i NA 

we UN gare alle Yate bid A wit ' Ea 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-C-2 


HoMES ARE THE BACKBONE OF OUR NATION 


T IS frequently said that our 

American cities are being over- 1 
built. It is certain that in some cases 
there has been too much building of 
apartments but an expert on housing 
betterment recently stated that he 
knew of no growing city in which 
there is a surplus of private dwell- 
ings for families of modest means. 


Yet this group of our population is 
the “back-bone” of our nation. If 
their children are condemned to 
grow up in tenements or in ugly, un- 
sanitary, ill-kept rented houses, our 
national progress is definitely retard- 
ed. Residence in apartment houses 
may do no harm to bachelors and to 
childless families, but the growing 
child needs for its best development 
a true home with plenty of sunshine 
and fresh air, privacy, and plenty of 
room indoors and out for wholesome 
play. 

The tenement or apartment child 
must live in the noise, dust, and con- 
fusion of crowded buildings and 
crowded streets. If it plays in the 
home the neighbors are annoyed; if 
it plays in the street it is in danger 
and the mother has no opportunity to 
choose the child’s associates or supervise 
its play. But in the private dwelling the 
conditions of life can be controlled. There 
may be light and air on all four sides so 
that any room may be a healthy playroom. 
The child can work with a hammer and 
saw without disturbing neighbors and the 
mother can choose the child’s playmates 


are not many. 


DED ROD 
HG lo-e 


For a Forty Foor Lot 


Possible plans for the most economical types of small homes 
The plan of the design shown above is one of 
the most useful and hence is shown frequently in this book, 
with minor variations. 


and direct or supervise its play until it is 
old enough to go safely to the community 
playground. 

There is more opportunity also for par- 
ents and children to engage in common 
activities and get to know each other better, 
so that the child may have the advantage 
of intimacy with its parents and share with 
them the memory of many common inter- 


ests and of common undertakings. 

=> The better home, therefore, should be 
| attractive in its architecture, a home 

| of which the family may well be proud. 

This home should be well-built or 
otherwise it will be a source of con- 
tinuous irritation and care. There 
should be attractive planting ground 
around it, for the charm of the home 
lies largely in .its surroundings. It 
should be designed for convenience 
of household operations, for other- 
wise the energy of the home-maker 
will be drained through needless and 
irritating drudgery. It should have 
the equipment which makes for effi- 
ciency in household operations. It 
should be furnished for comfort, for 
otherwise its members will spend 
their leisure elsewhere. It should 
provide for privacy because the de- 
velopment of family intellectual and 
spiritual life is dependent upon op- 
portunity for undisturbed study and 
meditation. 

Equally important is the possibility 
of home-ownership. The tenement 
or apartment dweller is a nomad, a 
wanderer. All too frequently he 
fails to put down roots in the neighborhood 
in which he dwells, does not take interest 
in the church or the lodge or citizens’ asso- 
ciation, or in the affairs of government. 
The home-owner on the other hand has a 
stake in the community. He is interested 
in the affairs of his district. Widespread 
home-ownership is necessary if there is to 
he soundness in our public affairs. 


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a » ss ae 
fi ae 
N) 


ok) f pve se pH ia i} 
iO rare Minaya 
ait SRN 


cea 


\ ‘f x 4 
MR ie Soe 
la C2 
TIT 7, + VIE A YT / 
CC TT wegen oer RN ll I} 


DESIGN 5-C-9 


HE home builder who insists on having a dining room may as well pass this pretty 
home by, for this plan has no such room. It has, however, a large living room in one 
end of which may be set the dining table. A dining alcove may be arranged in the 
kitchen, or the space marked “Fernery” may be so used. The first story of this house as 
is practically complete in itself. There is space under the roof for two bedrooms, toilet, 
and two storage rooms. Exterior finish wide siding or shingles. 


HMM TN) lp iin hel WHS ce 
dn a Within (He IN s4 
1h aid, ! MARR 3 GMO 
ui , na 4 "a, 
Y J. Mh 
V Wed v4 4, aS 467/ 
(ss fs 


M6 XK lose" 


} ‘in le ” r, 44 Vij ‘ 

Z Bee il “ao 
A Siataepen (7! jo. 
ot WN ag [ oe 
~ / 


Soo ant ang) Cums ngs i) BAS 
cal f 
ae 


pat GaN: ma ne n/p 
(AINE en y sae te naa aaeaew Ye my)! |||/ 
onion mxiees in mays alle eb Ny Y, a Oars! Fu 
ae ee Ne cid oe FUL vN ne if pH Deiat tare ae i] 
am gehes TATTN ( Maw M nN TTR. fis See 
we niles ‘nual! | Wl | /h W\\\ Hy) Attia {/) H}S=C- 54 


DESIGN 5-C-5 


HIS home design, like the one above, is complete as a one story house and 

has additional space in the second story. The home builder may wait until a 
later date to finish these rooms. When these are added, the owner may convert 
the first story bedroom into a dining room. A convenient little breakfast room 
remains for informal service. Exterior finish wide siding, roof of shingles. Houses 
with plans similar as to first floor arrangement will be found on page 9. 


OnE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


hoe 26 ot ea. 4 
Ae 
FATS Nee | 
P| <0 it yA " 
MIM qR it ey 
Ahh = 
eI aes =a 
am tt eee 
iingth wht, aaah (i Uy ic, 
Se 
DESIGN 5-D-4 
[LIVING 
Se 9-0 <ul ease 
= a 44-10 
al Pyare | Many Home BuILpERS 
iG | 22-6 x 90" 
ie | et ma Like A Front PorcH 


“ULVING™ 2 OOM * 
~ | 12-8 19-6 


ESIGNS 5-D-3 and 5-D-4 

have practically the same 
room arrangement, except that the 
plans are reversed. Design 5-D-4 
has a Colonial exterior designed 
for exterior finish of wide siding 
or shingles, while design 5-D-3 
has exterior finish of stucco. The 
entrance is at the side in each 
design. 


TAA, 
mi Hy, tnd, yeh 


aS = ~—- 


DESIGN 5-D-3 


ee: 


Bev. Room 


1947 X90" 


—26—6~ 


o 


LivinG-ROOM 
ise x 14 


AY unusual plan built around the 
living room. The dining room 
is large enough only to accommodate 
table and chairs, not the large expen- 
sive room found in many bungalows. 


nites 
Kay 
PEW, 


DESIGN 5-A-4 


THE Home BuriepEerR Ss LIBRARY 21 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-D-29 


SOLID GROUND NECESSARY FOR BUILDING SITES 


HE foundation of a building is not 

primarily the basement wall or the foot- 
ing below, but what is beneath the footing. 
Many a lot is wholly unfit for home building 
because the soil on which the footings must 
rest is not sufficiently strong to support 
even the comparatively light walls of a 
house. Depressions filled with tin cans, 
brush, ashes, and other refuse, topped off 
with luxuriant turf, and sold as accredited 
building sites are just as fraudulent as 
gilded bricks sold for gold. 


Swamp ground covered over and made 
level superficially may have the appearance 
of a sound home building site, but funda- 
mentally it is a hazardous speculation for 
the man who cannot afford the expensive 
type of foundation which lots of this kind 
require. It takes solid, compact earth to 
support a building uniformly so that one 
part will not settle the least bit more than 
another. No one can tell how long it will 
take swamp land or fills of ashes to be- 


4 


hy il 
i) } 
( yl f , ) 


Ua J 


come consolidated. The wise thing is not 
to attempt to build on such property. The 
careful buyer learns about these conditions 
as a matter of course, but even after the 
best intelligence is used in selecting a site, 
it not infrequently happens that the excava- 
tion discloses pools of quicksand, substrata 
saturated with water, ledges of rock, gravel 
in one place and clay in another—condi- 
tions that will make wall building difficult. 


If the excavation does show forth these 
conditions footings must be designed ac- 


a C LOS, H | 
at on = | 
ETERRAGE. Tl i] ‘BED: ROOM: 
= : | Worxi20" | 
ii -BED-ROOM- | | 
= 5 . 1 
Porat | WO" 1356 WSs eee ey 
loca Pacem Poss 
Puadnen |p \E 
—= ka Salar een TgT 
: . ond bet I 
U) im) (ie 
+ | — |LIVING: ROOM pasoms [cxoine?| ill 
i IT-6"x |3-0" KITCHEN 4 E 
[ " "O's Ml 
Woe t 
EL ORS 
= ¥ ef j 8 
Qe eee 2 Pease 
mbes ns elie 
DINING: ROOM: |x| | {x 
WO" 13-0" | te | 
2 
BSE -SERVICE YARD: 


I 
[ae 
TALCELA 


cordingly, for these different types of soil 
have supporting powers of widest varia- 
tion. Some are no more substantial than 
soft mud, which will not even support the 
weight of a man, much less that of a wall. 


The designing of foundations for resi- 
dences is considerably less complicated than 
it is for large buildings. The load exerted 
by the weight of foundation walls and 
everything above them is fortunately not 
great enough to require extensive footings. 
However, this does not mean that we go to 
the other extreme and give no considera- 
tion whatever to the problem. It will be 
seen how futile it is to build foundation 
walls for dwellings in a stereotyped manner 
as though all soils were alike. 


Many an old foundation wall reveals 
prominent diagonal cracks. These indicate 
that the wall had to act as a beam, that 
somewhere the supporting soil failed and 
the wall then had to span from one solid 
point to another. That made a beam of 
it. But walls are not designed for beams. 


No amount of expert planning of the 
hcuse or of beautiful modeling of the 
walls and roof planes will save that cracked 
foundation if the materials below the foot- 
ings are irregular or poor and the footings 
have not been designed for these conditions. 


above. 


kitchen entrance is 


Here is an English cottage of pronounced flavor. 
gables and informal arrangement of plan give it this quality unmistakably. 
We show the perspective here and a photograph of the completed house 
The added sun parlor is not a part of the working drawings. 
minor changes were made by the owner, most notable among which are in 
the windows and roof over the entrance. 
shielded by a wall and rustic gate. 
wood frame, exterior finish stucco, roof of shingles. 


AN ENGLISH COTTAGE 


The massing of the 


Other 


The service yard before the 
Construction: 


bo 
bo 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-E-1 


OnE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


dential districts. 


windows. 
fancies. 


Construction: 
shingle roof. 
white, with green blinds. 


EnpDuRING BEAUTY 


This small home combines a fine exterior with a fine plan. 
Houses of this kind are not seen commonly in our resi- 
Simplicity dominates, 
well planned, add charm; such as solid shutters, red brick 
steps against white walls, graceful doorway, grouping of 
It is a type that will outlast passing fads and 


wood frame, siding or shingle exterior, 
The walls should be stained or painted 


Little things, 


BED ROOM 
IFOKIS'S 


DINING ROOK 
lOSXISCO 


LIVING ROOM 
ZS0'X 15-0" 


ARCHITECTURE NOT MERE 


ANY people think of architecture as 

the decorative side of building. But 
true architecture has two other elements 
without which all the decoration in the 
world is worthless. One of these is the 
plan or room arrangement. The other is 
the construction. Good architecture has 
fine appearances without extravagance. It 
has a commodious, comfortable plan with- 
out waste space and with privacy. It has 
simple, straightforward, durable construc- 
tion without a penny wasted. 


Too often, unfortunately, the contractor 
not schooled in architecture thinks he adds 
architecture to a house by jazzing it up. 
He tricks up the rafter ends with a band 
saw, hangs out little meaningless balconies, 
puts chain lighting brackets under the cor- 
nice, spreads pergola porches around in- 
discriminately, fixes squirrel tails to the 
gable ends. Even though each one of these 
details were fine in itself it would not make 
architecture. The underlying construction 
is the real architecture. Decorative effects, 
good or bad, are the mere froth of building, 
like the grace notes or trills in a piece of 
music. Unless the tune is right you cannot 
stand the trills. 


Our streets are lined with houses with 
an appearance of the most ephemeral sort 
—popular only for the moment. In a few 
years we shall be tired of them. Good 
architecture is just as interesting in ap- 
pearance but it has the additional virtue 
of remaining interesting. We can live with 
it year after year. It never becomes tire- 
some. Think now of houses you know that 
are old fashioned, ugly, out of date, houses 
that no one will live in. But all old houses 
are not like that—the New England Colo- 
nial houses for example. And your house 
may have just as fine and distinct an archi- 
tectural quality as those old homes of Colo- 
nial days. 


Emptoy Goop BUILDERS 


It is also true that thousands of homes 
have been built in recent years with no de- 
cent consideration for durability. Money 
has been spent on the flashy things, as 
though it were possible to hold a house to- 
gether with a coat of paint or ornamental 
plaster. When floors sag, walls crack, 
plumbing leaks, you see the results of un- 
sound building. What counts is underneath 


DECORATION 


the finish. You cannot see it. When the 
builder omits braces, uses beams that are 
too light, does not give them the support 
they should have, you may not see the 
effects at first, but you will see them 
later on. 


Then there are houses in which the third 
element of good architecture is lacking. 
They have plans that are not well arranged ; 
not thoroughly studied. Plans in which 
some one let his enthusiasm for one detail 
or another take such precedence that the 
straight forward reasonable relationship and 
balance between parts has been lost. 
Houses that have kitchens in which the 
housewife wears out her strength prepar- 
ing meals; bedrooms illy lighted, poorly 
venilated, without wall space for the furni- 
ture; bathrooms with fixtures publicly dis- 
played at the front door; and floor space cut 
up into useless halls and passageways. 


A house of true architecture costs no 
more, excepting perhaps a little at first, 
than the ugly, poorly built house. It costs 
no more at any time than is necessary to 
insure you the absolute minimum of sound 
construction. 


iene Eons Biv wpe Rest lr BR ACRTY. 23 


ANOTHER SMALL House 
TuHat Can Grow 


Complying with what has come to be an 
American tradition in small home de- 
sign, the living quarters here have 
been arranged to provide one great DESIGN 5-D-27 
open space. Yet it is possible to 
separate the dining room from the liv- 


‘ HIS design traces its origin to the Colonial period. It is characterized by 
ing space to any extent that may seem a 


Beas one Tote. hailder, At thicd unusual simplicity of form and detail. Yet the simplicity is not of a rigorous 
bedroom may be added at the rear, ac- order, for, through grouping of the front windows of the living room and 
cessible through the rear hall. The breaking of the main cornice over the front bedroom window by a small gable, 


dotted lines show the position this room 
would occupy. 


a degree of informality is obtained. Construction: wood frame, exterior finish 
siding, shingles or stucco, roof of shingles. 


BLD ROOM 
10-6" xX 12, 


au aan a 


age at Ge ee ae Pia LIVING ROOM 
if int > H+ oe hee io k 2046" 
AR i < 


DESIGN 5-D-35 This house has a studio living room. The 


ceiling follows the line of the rafters. The 
section below shows how. A sense of spa- 
ciousness and distinction is secured at mod- 
erate expense. Construction: wood frame, 


HIS design is reminiscent of the : ; 
stucco finish, roof of shingles. 


small country homes of France and 
England. You will find throughout this 
booklet a number of designs with floor 
plans essentially the same—that is, with 
this basic arrangement of living and 
sleeping quarters—but this home is given 
a completely new quality through the 
management of the living room. Here 
it is an extremely important part of the 
design, as it should be. Imagination 
does not have to go far to visualize the 
pleasantness of this room with its great 
windows, its massive fireplace flanked by 
tiers of books, and opening onto a gar- 
den at the rear. 


24 OnE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


The 


ESIGNS for small houses come and go. Most of them go. 


tricky, novel effects are interesting often only for the time being. 
After a little one tires of them. Certain styles remain in good taste as long 
as the house endures. Here is a home of that quality. The exterior finish 
is weathered gray shingles. 


ARCHITECTS’ DRAWING OF ENTRANCE DOORWAY 


PopuLAR AND PRACTICAL 
Room ARRANGEMENT 


town hood.” 


HITE clapboards, sage green shut- 

ters, green roof, white trim, make 
this a delightful small home, far removed 
from the average commonplace bungalow. 
The front porch has a lacy lattice orna- 
mentation that adds greatly to the effective- 
ness of the exterior, a distinctive yet inex- 
pensive form of decoration. The entrance 
and the main body of the house are tied to- 
gether in design by the so-called “German- 


This bungalow has a popular and prac- 
tical arrangement of rooms with an exterior 


that will reward careful following of the 


25-8" ] plans. The plan makes of the living room 
SAG 


bedroom. 


DIMIHG BOOM 
Ws" . aten 


37-9"! 


erator. 


BEDROOM 


FBNio' x10'~4" 


up easily. 


and dining room really one large room, 
since they are separated only by a cased 
opening. The fine fireplace adds the spirit 
which only a fireplace can bring to a home. 
There is space under the roof for an attic 


The conveniences that mean so much to 
the housekeeper have been generously pro- 
vided, including a coat closet, a linen closet, 
and in the rear entry a place for the refrig- 


In these days it is essential that houses 
of this size be compact in plan, with com- 
fortable, spacious living rooms, small but 
adequate dining rooms; compact, well- 
planned kitchens; bath amd porches where 
they are essential; and closet room to en- 
able the housewife to keep the house picked 


gt 
hate de SRB ORE 
DEORE 


SUELGEEP RD 


THE Home BurintpER’ Ss LIBRARY 25 


SHINGLES ON SIDE WALLS AND ROOFS 


O you know what a “shake” is? We 

mean an architectural shake. Our 
forefathers knew. They took a log and 
split it into the center, and from the sec- 
tions thus formed split thin plates of wood 
that radiated to the center of the tree. 
These were called shakes. They were used 
for all manner of roof and wall coverings. 


The other day a group of architects were 
given a very exact demonstration of the 
durability of shakes. Some pieces were 
shown that had been on a roof for over 
a hundred years. Their long life came from 
two qualities—one was the kind of wood 
used, and the other the way in which the 
sections were cut. The shingles we use 
today displace the shakes of olden times and 
if they are well made do not differ from 
the original excepting that they are pro- 
duced by machinery, are not quite so long 
nor rough. 


But there are two ways to cut a shingle. 
One is flatwise of the log, just as an ordi- 
nary board is cut. With the other the sur- 
faces radiate toward the center of the tree. 
The latter is durable, will lie flat on the 
roof. The former is a cheaper grade. It 
will not last so long. Over a long term 
of years the “edge grained” or radial cut 
shingle costs the least. They are really 
quarter sawed like finest oak floors. The 
annual rings make parallel lines along the 
face of such shingles. When nailed on 
they are there to stay. 


To the naturally fine texture which good 
shingles bring to walls and roofs may be 
added the extra virtue of color, for wood 
shingles can be stained most interestingly. 
Most of the paint used with shingles is 


_TL_DINING RM 
! es 


Ws 


SHINGLED HousE 


A living room of unusual quali- 
ties with a great ingle nook and 
graceful bay window. Three 
bedrooms. Construction: wood 
frame, exterior finish shingles. 


transparent so that the texture of the wood 
shows through. Even though all the shin- 
gles are stained alike their varying degrees 
of hardness give different intensities of 
color so that life and vivacity are obtained. 
Oxidizing oils like linseed oil are sometimes 
applied with finest effects. Some paints 


used to cover shingles are more or less 
opaque. The paint manufacturers have de- 
veloped their art so that the stains they use 
quickly penetrate through the entire thick- 
ness of the shingle. They are wood pre- 
servatives; they increase the life of the 
wood and add beauty. 


While it is not possible to exaggerate the 
importance of having shingles cut “edge 
grain,” there are other requirements that 
must be met for durable construction. One 
of these is to have thick shingles. They 
should not be less than two-fifths of an 
inch in thickness at the thick end. They 
should not be more than eight inches wide. 
They should be laid a slight distance apart, 
and the nails must be of the proper quality. 
It is futile to use high grade edge grain 
shingles, and to comply with all the other 
rules that make a good shingle job, unless 
the fastenings also are of corresponding 
high grade, for a well made shingle will 
outlast many times over an ordinary wire 
shingle nail. Good shingles must be laid 
with nails that are absolutely rust resisting. 
The ordinary wire nail will last ten or 
twelve years, whereas a rust resisting nail 
such as one made from galvanized cut iron 
or wire zinc coated, will last three or four 
times as long, will parallel the life of the 
good shingle. 


Stained shingles are particularly adapta- 
ble to the side walls of homes. Perhaps 
one of the most effective ways of using 
shingles for this purpose is to employ the 
large size unit, which is twenty-four inches 
in length. When shingles are used for 
exterior walls their exposed width should 
be as great as the owner can afford. 


26 


DIsTINCTION DUE To FINE 
HANDLING oF DETAILS 


FTEN a single feature will lift a 
small home above the commonplace 
and give it charm and distinction. This is 
true of the bungalow shown here. The 
triple arch Palladian motif entrance to the 
porch is that feature. It is this graceful, 
beautiful entrance, with its slender columns 
supporting the central arch, and fine mold- 
ings that give it its marked individuality. 
Looking through this book you will find 
many designs with plans similar to this, 
with the living room, dining room, and 
kitchen in line on one side and two bed- 
rooms and bath on the opposite side. This 
arrangement is based on common _ sense 
principles. The construction is direct. The 
household management is simplified. 


Tame oni 


si KITCHEN 


q 
\ i 

\ 
= 384.44 , 


BED ROOM -#—| 


10-T'y ID'-10" 


+ : 
Jomnine ROOM— 


IP6°x 14-4 


BED ROOM 4 
1Z-O"*X 1S 10 
LIVING ROOM 


15-8" 17-10 f 
“rs t \ 
PORCH | 


: 
. 
; 
. 
- 
* 


| BEDROOM 
12-6" X WE 


OnE HuNnbDRED BUNGALOWS 


CLosfcios, 


DESIGN 5-A-59 


ROOF 


ROOF 


DESIGN 5-E-3 


ERE is distinction due to excellent proportions and skilful handling of 
details. Attention to the minor things, which often get little thought, give 
this small home character and reveal the skill of the architect. 
vides excellent accommodations. It includes the comforts, conveniences, and 
equipment of a modern home. At the same time it is inexpensive to build. 


Exterior finish can be shingles, stucco, or siding. 


poet ey 


BED ROOM 
\2'6"x 13410 


This house pro- 


The beauty of the porch is no less impressive from this 
view. Architecture of this classic severity is particularly 
responsive to fine building. All the moldings, cornice pro- 
jections, and the placement of windows and doors are 
essential in determining the fine character of the house. 
Make sure your contractor follows the drawings accurately. 


Information Regarding Bureau Service W hich 
Is Supplied With Each Plan Will Be 
Found on the Inside Front .and 
Back Covers of This Book. 


KITCHEN 


Atta [5S err 


(0 ig i ISL Oyen aps 18} ePneit wy insR OS, ID ei Na 


iid 
uN 


ii 


27 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DFSIGN 5-D-28 


SOUND STUCCO W ALLS— BEAUTIFUL TEXTURES 


TUCCO is one of the substantial ways 

of finishing walls. Architects have 
known about it and used it for years, but 
like other materials used for wall finish it 
must be employed wisely. Wood rots, paint 
peels, shingles curl, bricks settle, and stuc- 
co cracks. These are all the consequence 
of faulty construction of one kind or an- 
other—not at all necessary if proper work- 
men and materials are employed. 


Ask any good plasterer what makes stuc- 
co crack and he will tell you to employ him 
and it won’t crack. To a very large extent 
he is right, but pin him down to an abso- 
lute answer and he will tell you that he 
cannot guarantee satisfaction unless the 
framework of the wall and the lath on 
which he applies his stucco are correct. He 
will tell you also that the plaster materials 
themselves have to be of a sound order, 
wisely compounded, and that they have to 
be put on under circumstances which make 
the most of tricks of the plasterer’s trade. 


Every good plasterer does his level best 
to turn out a piece of work that will be a 
credit to himself and his fraternity, but he 
must have something to put his good work 
on that will bear reasonable relationship to 
the high quality of his own effort. He asks 
first for good footings, sound foundation 
walls, and securely built superstructure or 
upper wall. Then if the wall is of wood 
he asks that the lath shall be applied in such 
a way as to recognize its function of hold- 
ing the plaster in place. If metal lath is 
used it should be of the self-furred type, 
no strips employed, galvanized or painted, 
well secured to the backing, and set so that 
when the plaster is in place it will be thor- 
oughly embedded. 

Now, if this good. plasterer of ours is 
asked to state specifically why the other 
fellow’s plaster cracks, he will list a good 


mill 


t m ne 2 
13@X 10° oO" 


DINING 


Roon 
ISO" NV 6" 


A Stucco HousE 


Imagine this house with the 
gable twice as wide or with 
low pitched roof. Such a 
house would not have any- 
thing like the fine appear- 
ance possessed by this one. 
Its qualities are not gained 
by chance. 


Construction: 
stuccoed. 


wood frame, 


many items beside the frame work and lath, 
such as poor cement, faulty mixtures ‘of the 
mortar. He will show that the poor plas- 
terer often puts on stucco in coats too thin, 
hurries the work too much, that he does 
not keep his work wet down during the 
hottest days of summer. He may point out 
that many a conscientious but misguided 


plasterer has gone wrong by trying to do 
too well, used too much portland cement 
in the mortar mixture—too little sand. The 
proper mixture for this sort of mortar is 
no longer to be guessed at by any plasterer. 

For the preparation of the stucco itself 
methods have been worked out by scientific 
analysis, elements of guessing or chance 
have been eliminated. The plasterer who 
guesses at the mixture he should use of 
cement and sand, and chemical if chemical 
is used, is a “before the war” plasterer, 
antiquated, and he ought to be suppressed. 

It requires an expert hand—this plaster 
job, and we must depend upon the plasterer 
for the result we want. The finish of the 
plaster requires something more than sim- 
ply the ability to smear “mud.” MHap- 
pily manufacturers of exterior stucco, and 
interior plaster for that matter, have de- 
vised textures which conform rather close- 
ly to period design, for which they have 
provided directions for the guidance of 
plasterers so that the home builder may 
know in advance what he should get. 

There are no more “ifs” about success- 
ful exterior stucco than there are about 
other exterior finishes for walls. We may 
anticipate thoroughly satisfactory results 
from this type of wall finish if the work is 
properly done. Locality has nothing to do 
with its failure, nor humidity of the atmo- 
sphere, nor temperature. It is not a mat- 
ter for the soothsayers to determine. 
There is no old wives’ formula by which 
one may be governed to get successful 
plastering. It is, as has been stated, a thor- 
oughly worked out and standard program 
of wall finishing based on scientific analysis 
and formulae. Every first class plasterer 
has these formulae available. There are 
plenty of good plasterers. You may be 
sure of success if your plasterer follows 
these rules. 


28 OnE HunpRED BUNGALOWS 


ERE are two bungalows with floor plans so 
nearly identical that only one is shown for 
both. Design 5-A-75, illustrated below, is distinctly 
of the California mission type. The roof of varie- 
gated red tile offers sharp contrast to white stuccoed 
walls. The iron work of the porches and steps may 
be either black or light green. The exterior of the 
design at the right is typical of the middle west. 
The architect’s drawings of the exteriors show the 
broad side toward the street, but notice on the plan 
how the narrow end may be turned toward the street 
with entrance through the end of the living room. 
Construction: both wood frame, exterior finish 
5-A-75 stucco, preferably tile roof; exterior finish 
5-A-76 wide siding, roof of shingles, shutters are 
essential. 


' 
| ALTERNATE 
| LOCATION FOR 


FIRST FLOOR PLAN 


= ire (Foe MARLOW Lor) 
DESIGN 5-A-75 CEILING HEIGHT Stor 


(sa (Jer vy) at 
i  eags ' 
| Kel?’ fr, Ro 3 2 
ONIN G*ROON : | 


(i 

Fxid ri 
fevst | 

BED ROOM t 

| | 0k x 1 I, 


HE designer has made skilful use of architectural refinements to increase the 
apparent size of this house, but as a matter of fact the cubic content is 


Descending two steps from the front entry unusually small. In the proportions and massing of walls and openings lie the 
Sap at of te living room, the visitor secret of much of its originality. The large windows lighting the fine living room 
will find himself in an impressive, beauti- also help to insure individual character and to set this house in a class by itself. 


ful room, of generous proportions, with a 
high vaulted ceiling. Construction: wood frame, exterior finish stucco, roof of shingles. 


UHteOM bab UMetADSE Rs Sl leBeReA R’Y. 


THE HOUSE THAT RESTED ON A SHINGLE 


HOME builder asked an architect to 

inspect his house when it was half 
finished. Only the framing was done. 
Joists, studs and roofing were in place so 
that all the bare bones of the building 
could be seen. Something made the owner 
suspicious, and he wanted an expert to give 
his judgment on the way the parts had been 
put together. This is what the architect 
found. 


Midway across the depth of the house 
spanning from wall to wall there was a 
wooden girder supported midway by a 
wooden post. This girder was the sole sup- 
port of one end of every joist that crossed 
the floor. It supported also all partitions 
above it and the joists of the second story. 
The girder span from wall to post was 
eleven feet—three feet more than is allowed 
by many a city ordinance—three feet more 
than is ordinarily safe. The architect told 
the owner that in time the girder would sag, 
floors would be uneven. 


Why did the contractor make the girder 
span so far? Why did he not follow the 
drawings? Probably he was ignorant, did 
not know about this ordinary rule of fram- 
ing. Maybe he was trying to save a little 
money, having agreed, as the owner told 
the architect, to build the house for far 
less than anyone else had figured it. 


But the framing of the post was even 
more interesting. The post rested on a 
boulder, not very large, that the contractor 
had found in excavating the basement. In 
setting the post he discovered that it had 
been cut a trifle too short, due to the un- 
even thickness of the boulder, so he had 
wedged the post up from the boulder with 
a bit of shingle. Now visualize the fram- 
ing above—ceiling joists resting on studs, 
studs resting on joists, joists in turn sup- 
ported by the girder, and the girder by the 
post. And at the bottom, that shingle. A 
house supported by a shingle. Yes, the 


WoopbD USED 


AKE wood. Perhaps there is nothing 

much more common. Everybody knows 
wood. We see it used for every conceiv- 
able household object. We know it is used 
to build walls and floors, we walk upon it, 
dance upon it, are buried in it. And yet 
what do we know about it after all—espe- 
cially as a building material? 


We put units of this material on end, 
fastened together at the top and bottom 
with nails, lay slabs along one side and 
slats on the other, apply plaster and paint, 
and call it a wall. Is that all there is to it? 
It is not by any manner of means. There 
are some engineering principles involved. 
There is necessary some recognition of the 
character of this material. It may be twist- 
ed, warped, distorted. It may be straight 
as an arrow. It may be full of knots, splits, 
checks and cracks. It may be absolutely 
without blemish. Perhaps none of the 


A House Can Not Be Stronger Than 
Its Weakest Bearing Post. Let 
Yours Be Framed By Science. 


boulder was below that, a rickity, teetery 
boulder, found by chance in the excavation. 


The owner said when he raised a ques- 
tion about this that the builder had told 
him all would be well, for when the con- 
crete floor of the basement had been poured 
the base of the post would rest in the con- 
crete and the shingle would be protected 
thereby and there would be adequate sup- 
port for all the superstructure. But the 
architect knew that a post completely sur- 
rounded by concrete would rot at the base. 
He knew he could guarantee the post would 
rot, for long experience has taught that this 
is the inevitable end of wood completely 
embedded in masonry. The shingle was 
wrong. The embedding of the post was 
wrong, and the footing below the shingle 
was a masterpiece of error. 


If there is reason for outside foundation 
walls of a house to be of masonry—and 
who will deny it—there is almost as much 
reason that the inside basement walls sup- 
porting floor joists be of the same ma- 
terial. But if this cannot be managed then 
certainly the inside support for the joists 
should have a security that will match to 
some extent at least that supplied by the 
outside foundation walls. If for purposes 
of economy a wooden beam is used, it ought 
to go without saying that the beam should 
be of adequate size, frequently supported, 
so that a minimum amount of sagging will 
take place, and that the post below should 
be strong, framed so it will not rot. Below 
that post should be a footing, extensive, 
well constructed, soundly designed, in keep- 
ing with all the loads that it is to support. 


But the architect found a number of other 
things to excite his interest. For one he 
was interested to see how the first floor 
joists were supported by the outside founda- 
tion wall. These joists were intended to 
rest directly on the wall, but to the archi- 
tect’s surprise he found that only about 
every fifth joist had this support. The oth- 
ers were hung from nails driven through 
the stringer—a heavy plank that is run 
along the ends of the joists, parallel with 
the wall, and resting directly on it. Now, 
as it happens, floor joists do not have the 
same uniform depth. There is a variation 
between them due to the fact that they 
shrink unevenly. These uneven joists must 
be framed so that their tops come to a 
common plane so that the floor will be level. 
This means that the bearing must be raised 
or lowered for each joist to accommodate 
its particular depth. The bearing should 
be of masonry. 


Occasionally this hasty builder had driven 
wooden wedges under joists that were too 
shallow, a practice of faulty construction 
called “shimming.” It would only be a 
question of time until those shims would 
dry out, shrink, leave the joists in the air 
as they were in the beginning. In a few 
months the joists with bearings directly on 
the wall would have to support all the load 
of the joists in between. Think of the 
squeaking, sagging, uneven floor. Think of 
the vibration. Think of the inevitable de- 
preciation of a house built like this. Every 
joist should have had mortar slushed un- 
der it to give it a sound and unquestionable 
bearing. 


The owner had good drawings. He had 
a good set of specifications, but he did not 
have a good contractor. He entrusted his 
home building to a man who was known 
to him only by hearsay, and because he put 
in a low bid. There are plenty of good 
contractors. Why take a chance? 


WISELY BUILDS FINE BUILDINGS 


wood we use in building, excepting that for 
the very finest finish, is wholly without 
blemish. It is not straight and true and 
does not remain so unless we take steps 
to keep it true to line and to the trust we 
impose in it. But this is easy to do. 


Furthermore, wood is, in a remote way, 
like a sponge. Get it wet and it swells. 
Dry it and it contracts. This makes an- 
other problem that has to be managed in 
building, for that contraction and expansion 
has cracked many a wall. 


There are thousands of wooden walls re- 
cently built by “Jerry” builders and others 
who know nothing about this material save 
that it can be cut by a saw and that nails 
can be driven into it with vast rapidity. 
These walls will be out-of line, warp, crack 
their plastered surfaces, and become gen- 
erally dilapidated 10 years from now. 


All” 


because these “Terry” builders do not know 
what every builder should know about 
wood—that it must be trussed, it must be 
well nailed, it must be bridged and blocked 
and fastened securely. And every builder 
must know about the necessity of preserv- 
ing wood, of having it well seasoned. 


If there should be the slightest doubt in 
any’ one’s mind about the soundness of 
wood construction for small houses, when 
that wood is used properly, it is only neces- 
sary to remind him of the old Colonial 
houses built of wood that are still stand- 
ing—houses that are almost as good as 
new—almost as sound now as the day when 
they were put together. 


Wood is a sound and durable material. 


“Its plenty and cheapness and its workability 
-make it the logical material for the building 


of many small homes. 


30 One HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


purpose pra 


DESIGN 6-A-9]. SEE INSERT BELOW FOR PORCH AS SHOWN ON THE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS 


SOME SOUTHERN TYPES FOR WIDE LOTS 


} ALTERNATE 
LOCATION 


a! 
ry 
0, 
esto 


48-0" Soe ee 


HE architect's drawing below of tha et ane 


6-A-92 shows an exterior of Spanish Pew Ersion/aceaworsten| font deme 
. . | LOWER THAN CEMAIN' i 
character with practically the same floor | or orwouse. Kitgneniifoiine Room 


plan as that of the Colonial design. Only 
in the Spanish design are the floor levels 
changed as shown in the floor plan. 

Construction: both wood frame, the | 
Colonial design with an exterior finish | 
of wide siding r shingles. Observe | 
how effective are the shutters in the de- ‘2 
sign. The Spanish home has an exte- gee ll 
rior finish of stucco, roof of tile. — 


| LIVING 
ROOM 


13‘O"# 19-6" 


| | STEPS In spanisn 4 
[7 Veesion onty 


(2a aa 


Ge 


nq 


| AS THNEL IEE LOH CETT PW 
' 


ero Omine Db suil tl Dib Ste TaReRSATREY, 31 


DESIGN 6-A-5 


BEDROOM 
isthe _ 


DINING 


LIVING ROOM ROOM 


20" «= {so 


True DutcH CoLoNIAL 


HIS charming little home design solves a 

problem—one that has puzzled architects 
for years. This has been to provide really 
modern living accommodations in the second 
story of a true Dutch Colonial home. The 
beautiful roof lines in this—the original Amer- 
ican bungalow—have incited the admiration 
and despair of architects, for it has not been 
considered desirable in true Dutch Colonial 
architecture to pierce the sweep of the roof for 
dormer windows. To do this would destroy 
one of the most important elements in its 
beauty. 

However, after long study this plan has been 
evolved as a real solution. The key to the 
solution is in the location of the stairs. You 
will see that by this means two bedrooms and a 
commodious bath are included under the roof, 
each with adequate light and cross circulation. 
As a result of this arrangement, the house is 
not a modern hybrid horror—a “Dutch Colo- 
nial” so-called—but an authentic Dutch Colo- 
nial house of the type built by the old Dutch 
farmers in the district near what is now New 
York City. 

Construction: wood frame, finish of wide 
shingles, excepting on front wall, where stucco 
is used; roof of shingles. 


LONG, Low LINES AND PLEASANT PORCHES 


HE generous, hospitable porches, the long, low lines of the roof, the delicate 

Colonial details are suggestive of the fine old mansions of the South. The 
architect has achieved variation in the roof line by elevating the ridge of the 
central portion and bringing it down over the front porch. He has produced a 
central mass with less important wings on each side. The cornice line of all the 
parts is kept at the same level, tying the parts of the design together. The house 
rambles with ease and informality and clings closely to the ground. The illus- 
tration shows how the owner added a porch at the side. This is not included 
in the working drawings. 

A suggested color scheme is that the siding, cornice, and columns be painted 
white, blinds blue green, roof stained variegated greens and browns. 


wheter” 
Danas. \NMF SES cael 


One EH GaN DRED bite NeGeANto wes 


DETAIL OF ENTRANCE—COVER DESIGN 


COLORFUL SHINGLES AND FLOWERS IN ABUNDANCE 


HE exterior walls are laid with 
twenty-four inch tan dipped 
shingles. The roof is covered with a 
plain shingle of brown color. The 
chimney is dark red, also the chimney 
pots. The trim is a twilight blue 
while the awnings are tan and brown. 
The terraces are red tile brick; a 


curved sidewalk leads to the front 
door. The door is brown like the 


roof. Lengthwise boards with big 
strap hinges and a thumb latch of 
dull bronze were used. A small nine 
paned window, rounded at the top, 
forms the upper part of the door. 
This is advantageous. The owners 
can see from within who may be on 
the outside before opening the door. 


A long window box matching the 
walls with a blue moulding around 


the top and four wooden brackets is 
filled with pink geraniums and _ bal- 
cony petunias. The house is land- 
scaped with blue hardy larkspur and 
pink flowered shrubbery. On the op- 
posite page a side view of this house 
shows it set among its flowers and 
shrubs with vines on the lattice work. 
Such a setting adds value to a house, 
and greatly increases its charm. 


AD astas: Nal @yiieis 18) tear idan ie Ss, 1G irae Se 


33 


THE PICTURESQUE BUNGALOW ON THE COVER 


Excellent Plan, Easy to Build 
and of An Essentially 
Economical Type 


ORMAL houses such as those in the 

Colonial style are comparatively easy 
to design. Their orderliness is such that 
a good many problems about the massing 
of walls and roofs solve themselves. Of 
course, even in this type of building archi- 
tecture does not result unless the parts bear 
proper relation to each other. It is not a 
job for an amateur. 


But picturesque houses such as the one 
illustrated here, Design 6-B-30, are more 
difficult to design. The organization of 
these houses follows no definite form. Here 
the massing of the plan elements greatly in- 
fluences external appearances. The sizes 
and shapes of rooms must have an inter- 
relation such that the general exterior effect 
is fine. Architects call this composition. 
It is a process of modeling by which forms 
are arranged so as to achieve the best re- 
sults both in plan and exterior. 

Now if no limitations are placed on the 
architect as to the way in which he may 
model the plan, no restrictions as to cost or 
size, he finds the problem of composition or 


: ave Si 
arene H 5 
CC x/4 8 % 
en 6-85-30 —| 
BED ROM \F 
12-0 1¥6 
DINING ROOM 
| 12-0 4-6" 
| . 
[ee ae ead Sh 
Se) 
M 
LIVING ROQM 
15-4'x 20-6 
BED ROOM 
12°05 /4-0 


paras | 


FLOOR PLAN DESIGN 6-B-30 


modeling somewhat easier. But for the 
small house such as the one shown above 
this liberty does not exist. The plan must 
be organized so that after all the work is 
done economy still remains. The house 
must be of a type such that its construction 
is not an elaborate matter. 


View this house then from this point of 
view. The plan is straightforward, easy to 
build, essentially of an economical type. 
The framing follows a definite procedure. 
It would necessarily be,a little more expen- 
sive to construct than a house that had an 
absolutely rectangular form, yet the differ- 


SIDE VIEW OF THE HOUSE ON THE COVER—DESIGN 6-B-30 


Tue Cost to BuILp 


UILDING costs depend upon local 

market conditions and what you 
demand in the way of equipment. 
Simple equipment costs less. Luxurious 
equipment costs more. There is only 
one satisfactory way to find out build- 
ing costs in advance of construction. 
The Bureaus have provided a direct 
and inexpensive way to ascertain local 
costs. Plans may be obtained for a 15- 
day inspection and estimating privilege. 
See inside back cover for further ex- 
planation of this service. 


ence in cost is not great. How different 
though are appearances! Certainly the 
home builder is interested in this matter 


for it has a definite bearing on the amount 
of accommodation he can get for his 
money. 


Here, too, the home builder will find a 
plan in which accommodations are finely 
worked out. The division made between 
living quarters and private quarters will 
commend itself. 


The communications between rooms are 
direct. The designer has visualized the 
purpose of each room and has arranged 
them so they will fit well into the home 
keeping scheme. 


To this six room house, design 6-B-30, the 
sixth room being in the second story, a 
single one, over the dining room—have 
been added vestibule, breakfast room, pan- 
try, terrace and a generous fireplace. Going 
over the plan one finds countless details of 
interest. There is abundant closet space, a 
kitchen lighted on three sides, a breakfast 
room, which in the morning should be 
bathed in sunlight. 


This breakfast nook can be seen plainly 
in the illustration above, which is a side 
view of the house that is illustrated on the 
cover. The awning is over the terrace. 
Doors from dining room and living room 
open onto this terrace. It can be screened 
in for a summer porch. 


An alternate plan, design 5-B-36, has 
been prepared without change of the front. 
The floor plan for this, and for design 
6-B-30, the house on the cover, are both 
shown on this page. If the second story 
room of the six room design is omitted this 
becomes a true five room house to be com- 
pared with 5-B-36 as such. The latter is 


Ez-) I 


Susie 


DINING Root} 
10-0x 126" 


BED ROOM 
120°% 12°68" 


LIVING ROOM ro 
190% 20'6 34ccos ice im 
. ROOM 
106 KIS 
—— 


FLOOR PLAN DESIGN J-B-36 


more compact, less expensive to build, not 
so luxurious, nor with so many conveni- 
ences. Pocketbook must dictate the choice. 
The home builder gets a good house either 
way. 

Construction for either design is wood 
frame, with a finish of wide shingles. 


34 ONE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


a 


LB 


= 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-A-48 


THESE HOUSES ARE MUCH ALIKE IN ROOM ARRANGEMENT 


ERHAPS you have in mind a certain plan but the exte- 
riors you have found for it do not suit your fancy. The 
Small House Service Bureau has tried to answer this difficulty 
by making a number of exteriors for most desired plans. If 
your requirements are met by this general arrangement, here 


KITCHE 


B:0%130" 


LIVING ROOM 
17!6"x13'0" 


ROOM 
iS O's10'e™ 


are four exteriors to choose from developed on practically this 
identical floor plan. On page 60 you will find two more. 
The two houses shown on this page were built from exactly 
the same working drawings, but the wall finishes are different. 
The one above is of siding and the one below of shingles. 


un 


liste HOt En beet DID RY Sela TBI R-ACRTY 3 


ERE are two designs with different wall finishes but with 
first floor plans exactly like that of 6-A-48 opposite. The 
second floors vary depending on the shape of the roof. 

The moment you step in the doorway you experience a 
feeling of spaciousness. The whole front of the house, an 
extent of forty feet, if the sun room is used, has been thrown 
open into practically one room. 


DESIGN 6-A-83 


DINING 
ROOM 
4713-2" 


Construction 6-A-83—wood frame, ex- 
terior finish shingles, roof of shingles; 
6-A-81 and 6-A-55—wood frame, exte- 
rior finish stucco, roof of shingles. 


DESIGN 6-A-55 


Sun Room Piacep AT FRONT 


HIS house like the others on this page is designed 

particularly for future enlargement. The second 
story can be left entirely unfinished for the time being 
because a bedroom and bath have been provided on the 
first floor. Undoubtedly it would be less expensive in 
the long run, all things considered, to finish the house 
completely in the first place, but the home builder may 
not have the money or the need for the extra space at 
first. 


: DIKIKG Room LIVING ROOM 


36 


@ streets and countrysides would 
indeed be monotonous if everyone 
elected to build a square or rectangular 
house. It is fortunate that there are 
many who prefer homes of pleasantly 
irregular outline, houses that ramble pic- 
turesquely over the lot and are charm- 
ingly unconventional in their room ar- 
rangements. In the old country the 
houses which have inspired much of the 
recent small home building in America 
have gained their picturesque qualities 
often from having been built bit by bit 
as the years went along, a wing added 
here, a bay projected there. 


High roofs are characteristic of the 
English and French types, but it would 
not do from the point of view of fine 
architecture for the architect to borrow 
this quality unless it has some purpose 
in his design. The large space gained 
under the roof must serve a use. In 
the houses on this page the high roof 
has been turned to advantage so that it 
includes two excellent bedrooms with 
space for a bath should the owner desire 
to add this additional feature to the sec- 
ond story. 


we 


wae, ok 
» a” + 


OnE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


+ 
Ge os D : 
ae 7. eile y 4 

a y teee 


: , FSA é ind GY 
py Ree 2 wet 
Ae pl 1 By \ “2 
, y is y } \ x % 


Td , / 


DESIGN 6-F-12 


ae: 
ate i ‘@> . 


Ho ph 
ree 
af Halt | 


STREETS WouLD BE 
MoNnoTONoUS 
Ir Att Buirtt ALIKE 


S much at home in some of our 

beautiful American country- 
sides as on English and French soil, 
are the two designs on this page, 
which are adapted from old world 
cottages. The construction is wood 
frame, exterior finish stucco. 6-F-11 
has brickwork in the front wall part 
way up the first story, and siding in 
the gable ends. The casement win- 
dows in these designs may be of 
metal or wood, as desired. 


Storage & 
Future Bale 


THE HoME-BiuUIlL DER’ Ss LIBRARY 


ee 
oR eB re 


DINING 
ROOM 


wo" joo" 


LIVING ROOM 
igo" * We 


HE program of rooms in this de- 

sign—the general scheme of ar- 
rangement—is similar to 6-F-12 shown 
on the opposite page. The second 
stories though, vary because of the dif- 
ferent types of roofs. 


It is customary to assign architectural 
types to many of our small houses, es- 
pecially those that have details character- 
istic of the homes of foreign lands, but 
the style of these houses is really Ameri- 
can, as this one is, though here the in- 
fluence of the French mansard roof 
may be seen. 


About the first floor there is an agree- 
able air of spaciousness rather remark- 
able for a house of this size. There are 
six main rooms; living room, dining 
room, kitchen and bedroom on the first 
floor, and two bedrooms on the second 
floor. In addition to these, however, the 
plan provides a porch, a breakfast room 
about seven feet square, first floor lava- 
tory with shower, a second bathroom 
and a large storage room upstairs. 


Construction: wood frame, exterior 
finish siding or shingles, but stucco may 
be used. 


32-8 


hecnphanticensccy 
~ SR AR 
ee Silent 


37 


SpacEk UNpER Roor 
For BEDROOMS 


HE house at the left does not quite 
keep pace with the others on this 
double page as to irregularity of plan, 
but it has a beauty of its own gained 
from the trim severity of its Colonial 
forms. Like many other plans in this 
book, it will be found that the first floor 
is complete in itself and the second story 
bedrooms may be finished later on. 
There is probably no more popular or 
satisfactory arrangement of living and 
dining room than the one offered by this 
plan. The wide cased opening between 
the two rooms is a decorative feature. 
At the same time it increases the appar- 
ent size of both rooms. The finely pro- 
portioned living room has double win- 
dows on front and a side window to 
offer still another outlook. Wall space 
is provided for large pieces of furniture. 
Construction: wood frame, exterior 
finish wide siding or shingles, roof of 
shingles. 


Rice 
| I-O'x 13: 


ROOM 
(a) 


| ROOM | 


em 


KITCHEN 
FOWZ-2 


cis 
i 


BED ROOM | 
WG 140 


BED, ROOM 
LEAK ATF. 


~ BED ROOM 
0-3 12-4" | 


| STORAGE 
= 7 


38 


OnE HunpbRED BUNGALOWS 


HOME FINANCING FOR SMALL HOME BUILDERS 
Few Can Pay for a Home Outright at the Start 


ROBABLY the best and _ cheapest 

method of financing is through a first 
mortgage, but the first mortgage pre- 
sumes that there is an equity behind the 
mortgage of at least 125% of the value of 
the mortgage. Many financing organiza- 
tions will not lend on a first mortgage any- 
thing like as much as this. They require 
a ratio of 140% or more. Thus the home 
builder would secure only 60%, or perhaps 
as little as 40%, of the whole cost of the 
building plus the value of his lot, but when 
the security is so substantial the risk to the 
mortgagee is less and the price of his serv- 
ice in the form of interest should be less. 


The person or agency that lends money 
on a first mortgage looks for his basis of 
security in more than the cost of building 
the house. He wants to know what kind of 
a house is to be built with the money. If he 
sees from the plans and specifications that 
sound construction is not contemplated, he 
will be extremely wary. He probably will 
not lend as much money, if he will lend any 
at all, or he may charge a higher rate of 
interest. He knows that a good set of 
plans, produced by a reputable architect, 
is the first requisite to the fine type of 
building in which he wishes to invest his 
money or that of his client. He will also 
want to know about the contractor, whether 
or not the building is to be constructed un- 
der the superintendence of an architect, 
where it is to be located, if it is of a de- 
sign that will not go out of style, as cer- 
tainly, unless the house can be resold at 
least for the price represented by the face 
value of the mortgage, there will not be suf- 
ficient security for him in it. 


Financinc Costs Must BE CouNnTED 


ONEY on first mortgages may be se- 

cured from savings banks, from in- 
surance companies, and from mortgage 
brokers who commonly handle funds that 
have been left with them by their clients for 
investment. First mortgage money may also 
be obtained through building and loan 
associations. 

In arranging for the loan, the drafting 
of the mortgage papers, and so on, a charge 
is usually made by the mortgagee. This is 
called a commission. It ranges from 1% 
to 4%, depending upon the amount of the 
loan, its relation to the total value of the 
property, and the length of time for which 
the mortgage is to run. The interest 
charges, which are entirely beside the com- 
mission, will also vary with the conditions 
mentioned above and will range from 5% 
to 7%. The first mortgage may be written 
to run any number of years, but commonly 
it does not run for more than five years, 
at the end of which time it will be neces- 
sary for the home owner either to pay off 
the mortgage or to re-finance it. If he re- 
finances it, new commissions will be charged 
for the new paper. 

There will also be charges to include the 
cost of filing and recording the transaction 


as required by law. There will be the at- 
torney’s fees and those of the abstract of- 
fice, all of which should be charged to the 
item known as financing. 


When first mortgages run for more than 
three years they commonly carry a so-called 
“pay-off” clause, by which the home owner 
contracts to reduce the face of the mort- 
gage after the lapse of three years and at 
six month intervals thereafter so that pre- 
sumably the proportion of protection for 
the loan will remain at the end of the mort- 
gage term about as it was at the beginning. 
In other words, the mortgage is reduced to 
take care of depreciation during the mort- 
gage period. The building and loan scheme 
automatically takes care of this matter as 
the principal of the borrowed sum is re- 
duced month by month. 


BewaAareE OF Hicu “Discounts” 


HEN so great a proportion of the 

whole value of the property must be 
borrowed that, after the maximum amount 
to be obtained under a first mortgage has 
been secured, there may still remain the 
necessity of borrowing additional money, 
then additional money may be secured on a 
second mortgage. This type of loan is some- 
times called “junior paper.” The security 
behind it, of course, is inferior to that of 
the first mortgage. If for any reason the 
home builder should default on the first 
mortgage, the person holding the second 
mortgage would have to be in a position 
to pay off the first mortgage in order to 
protect his interests. Otherwise, the second 
mortgage is in danger of being wiped out 
under foreclosure proceedings. Under the 
circumstances, the second mortgage usually 
carries a higher rate of interest than the 
first and in addition is made attractive to 
the money lender through the payment of a 
substantial commission or bonus. This 
commission often runs extremely high. It 
is rarely less than 10%, and may run much 
higher, the actual amount depending on 
how much money is borrowed and the 
length of time necessary to repay it, and 
also on the relation of the first mortgage to 
the value of the propery. If less money is 
borrowed on the first mortgage the com- 
mission on the second mortgage would 
naturally be less. 


First mortgages are sometimes succeeded 
by contracts for deed. As a matter of 
fact, there have been a great many houses 
financed exclusively by the contract for 
deed method. This scheme of financing goes 
by a variety of names, but it is essentially 
one by which the home owner makes a first 
installment of some size on the purchase of 
his home and then contracts to pay off the 
balance through equal monthly installments. 
The money paid down as first payment is 
often very low. Some people who finance 
houses on this score require that the home 
builder have at least the value of the lot 
in cash or the ownership of the lot itself. 
If the home builder owns the lot, then he 


assigns his deed to the money lender as the 
first payment of the contract. When the 
contract is all paid up, the money lender 
supplies the deed to the property. Under 
some circumstances the money lender sup- 
plies the deed when a sufficient amount of 
money has been paid on the contract to 
make it possible to float a first mortgage. 


As with all types of loans behind which 
the security is low, this type of financing 
is an expensive one to the home builder on 
account of the discounts or commissions 
that go with it. These discounts rarely ap- 
pear as such in the transaction. They are 
simply added to the amount of the con- 
tract. It is quite common for these dis- 
counts to amount to as much as 20% of the 
value of the property. In this way, a house 
and lot costing $5,000 would be sold to the 
home wanter on a contract for $6,000. The 


20% discount represents no real value 
whatever. It is simply the money lender’s 
profit. 


The contract for deed usually provides 
that in case the buyer fails to meet the 
obligation imposed upon him by the monthly 
payments or any other provisions included 
in the contract, the whole sum which may 
have been paid in at that time is taken by 
the money lender as “liquidated damages.” 
Of course the contract may be written so as 
to provide for a resale of the contract so 
that in case the buyer should not have the 
means to go forward with his agreement 
he would be enabled to save some part of 
his equity. 

This type of financing, it will be seen, is 
an extremely expensive one, and involves 
certain hazards which should be considered 
carefully before they are assumed. It is 
often made enticing to the home builder 
by being described as paying for a house 
“like rent.” There are a great many people 
who will lend money for home financing on 
this. basis. Building contractors usually 
know how to secure money in this way for 
the financing of homes for their more im- 
pecunious clients. If anyone goes into this 
scheme of financing he should do so with 
his eyes open. ; 


MEASURED JUDGMENT 


T must be said in fairness that many of 

those agencies that supply money on sec- 
ond mortgages or contracts for deed are 
entirely dependable and honorable in their 
dealings with the people to whom they lend, 
but on the other hand, unfortunately, there 
are many who lend money in this way who 
have earned and deserved the term of 
“sharks.” It is their desire and to their 
advantage to have the home builder default 
on his contract and they show no mercy if 
he does so. One may well beware of bor- 
rowing money from these people. 

In almost every community there are 
agencies that recognize intelligent home 
financing as one of the most secure of all 
investment enterprises. The wise home 
builder will search these agencies out. 


{Page Jab@ visas Eye 1ae ipod AS Ab ANI 


SECTION LI. 


39 


BuNGALOwsS OF Masonry CONSTRUCTION 


W ALLs oF Sotip Brick—Brick VENEER—HoLLOW TILE 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 4-B-6 


BURNED CLAY FOR BEAUTY AND STRENGTH 


ASONRY walls carry their own rec- 

ommendation, for they have had the 
confidence of man through long ages. 
Their durability and strength is well 
known. Many a bit of ancient history is 
wriften into the walls of the buildings of 
antiquity. The great walls that the Chinese 
built stretching across the hills of northern 
China to keep the hordes of Tartars back 
bear mute evidence of how men have relied 
on the protection they afforded. Similar 
walls were built in England by the Romans 
as a protection against the barbarians of 
the north. Many ancient cities were pro- 
tected by this sort of wall. 


And many of these walls were of brick. 
Relics of ancient civilization in existence 
long before the Christian era, now being 
uncovered in Asia Minor, disclose walls 
built of brick which now are still in good 
condition. One of the most interesting of 
the objects excavated has been the library 
of Nebuchadnezzar, preserved now to us 
after a lapse of thousands of years. It con- 
sisted of hieroglyphics described on blocks 
of tile. The Romans built walls that were 
faced with triangular units of burned clay 
and filled in between with other masonry. 
They called the work opus triangularum— 


29)" ~ 


ie ap 
al 

=i 

Ci) 

ate 

fo) b 
x ce pal 
7 Ky KITCHEN 5 

I2’-0'« 6-0" 

gle 

9 

Qa 


Stucco ON Brick or TILE 


A pleasant plan, unusual in its arrange- 
ment, with a conveniently located alcove 
for dining. Terrace at front and porch at 
rear bring the outdoors in. To be built of 
hollow tile or brick with exterior finish of 
stucco, 


triangular work. Many of these walls stand 
today showing clearly the skill and wisdom 
of their builders. 

All of the virtues possessed by this old 
burned clay material are found in the pres- 
ent day product of our kilns, plus undoubt- 


edly far greater durability that comes about 
from our having learned scientifically how 
to burn clay, and plus also color and tex- 
ture characteristics of a superior order. 


So we use these units for all sorts of 
wall building. There are walls of solid 
brick with facings of a more ornamental 
brick laid in interesting patterns with color, 
or we may finish such walls with stucco. 
Then we may have hollow walls of tile 
finished with a surfacing of stucco or made 
interesting in themselves by process of 
manufacture and therefore needing no ad- 
ditional surfacing. There is the wall made 
by applying brick to frame work of wood, 
called brick veneer construction. 

There is really no essential difference 
between tile and brick as to the material 
itself. Both are burned clay. Building tile 
is hollow, that is practically the whole dis- 
tinction, so far as units for ordinary wall 
building are concerned. 

We may employ any of these materials 
for all sorts of wall building above and be- 
low ground—sometimes in the humble but 
honorable role of doing the work of the 
building, carrying loads, fighting off the 
elements, sometimes in the role of decora- 
tion, adding beauty, giving pleasure. 


40 OW EEN piRie De beanie HeOnwsS 


DESIGN 4-B-8 


es 


ESIGN 4-B-8, illustrated at the left, 

has tile walls with an exterior finish 
of stucco, while 4-B-18 below, is designed 
for solid brick. The home builder has a 
choice of two floor plans for either exterior. 
One of them has a formal dining room, the 
other a dining alcove. Otherwise the plans 
are much the same. The living room, din- 
ing room, and kitchen occupy a major por- 
tion of the house, the bedrooms, with bath 
between them, the other side, insuring pri- 
vacy for the sleeping quarters. The absence 
of a porch provides a finely lighted living 
room. The dining alcove is in a secluded 
corner, close to the kitchen, and may over- 
look a garden. It has a window, built-in 
table and side seats, with china cupboards 
above. 


STUCCO ON TILE OR WALLS OF SOLID BRICK 


HE exterior of these designs are not elab- 

orate. Simplicity is the key note. So highly 
refined are they and so well proportioned that 
their architectural merit is apparent to everyone. 
The arched entranceways, the main point of in- 
terest in the exterior, are embellished by butt- 
resses and wrought iron lamps. 


The stucco finish of the house above may be 
lightly tinted, perhaps in pink. In this case the 
tile roof may be of variegated colors in reds, 
browns and grays, and the exterior woodwork 
painted to produce the effect of weathered pine. 
The shutters may be light blue. 


If the finish is of brick, as in the house at the 
right, it is suggested that they be of the red 
flashed type, laid in white mortar. If then the 
roof tile are moss green in color, and there is 
white woodwork with gray-green shutters, the 
color effect would be very fine. 


The Home Builder Has a Choice of These Two 
Floor Plans for Either Exterior. 


33-10- 


| DINING RIM 
1oto*x10+ 6" | 


BED ROOM 
10-4 13+0* 


25-# 


LIVING ROOM 
j3*0"% 19% 0” 


BEDROOM 
10*2°4 1H O* 


LIVING LOOM 


19-0". 1IS-O” 


BEDROOM 


isto’e1o-6" 


2618” 


besos 


DESIGN 4-B-18 


HE modern American bungalow is a model 

of efficiency. It shares many of the charac- 
teristics of the quarters ot apartment houses, 
but with this notable distinction—it is light, bright, 
and airy, the rooms are generous in area and in 
windows. There are conveniences such as fire- 
places, terraces, porches, attic and basement stor- 
age space such as apartments rarely have. 


The apartment house dweller moving into a 
modern American bungalow finds his pleasures 
not only tremendously increased by the better 
plan, but by the setting of the house—lawns, 
gardens, all the joys of the home lot. 


Ae aepis, Jaloatery Tia inte, ass” G AL seipan ANT Ne 41 


“Br It Ever So HUMBLE” 


Ro most people the home is the beginning 
and the end of life. All their activities 
proceed from it and return to it. Therefore, 
of all the arts those which find their applica- 
tion in the home, making us intelligent about 
the home and its needs, are the most signifi- 
cant. 


Yet there are thousands of families well 
able to finance a home, who are denying them- 
selves this joy of living in a home of their 
own, who are missing year after year this 
feeling of security, of possession and inde- 
pendence that comes through ownership of a 
home. 

There are many who do their building the 
same way that many of us travel, or grow 
rich and famous. We do it beside the fire in 
an easy chair. We dream dreams that never 
materialize because we never make a start. 


A Spur To AMBITION 


Sede AY. The average man with a small or moder- 

ate income does not usually begin to save 

HERE are two floor plans for this design; one providing a dining alcove, the until he has a definite object in view. What 
other a dining room. Construction: brick walls with face brick finish. Stucco could be a greater goal than a home, a place 
may be applied over the brick as illustrated above. to call your own, a place to develop and im- 


prove as you wish, a hospitable place in which 
to entertain your friends, a home that will 
bequeath associations and fragrant memories 
to your children? 


The home is the most important of all in- 
stitutions. From it are the issues of life. In 
the little world of the home children are born 
and reared. In it they grow to manhood and 
womanhood. From it they go forth into the 
larger world of society and state, to establish 
in turn their own little world of the home 
in which they grow old and die. Their mem- 
einacloon ories linger around the homes of their child- 
LIVING ROOM 1T-OX15-O° hood; the memories of them held by later gen- 

TO £1550. erations are associated with the homes of their 
manhood and womanhood. 


DINING ROO 
FOxX12 0° 


sd ene A 1 Sl 
og 


As You Look Over the Plans in This 
Book, Remember That Any House 
Can Be Built Reversed. 


DESIGN 4-B-1 


HE overhanging cornice at the entrance with graceful bracket treatment, the old- 

fashioned blinds, and the finely proportioned chimney with its colorful inserts, give 
an irresistible charm to the exterior. The owner added the wing at the right. It is not 
in the working drawings. 


BED RCOM 


12-28 « 10'-0" 


; Construction: walls of hollow tile, stucco finish, roof of tile. Working drawings 
yi have also been prepared for solid brick walls, design 4-B-13. The hollow tile version, 
fh with a full size dining room, may be had in design 5-B-18. 


42 ONE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


DESIGN 4-B-17 


HE exterior of this home has been made i Teereaioed 


interesting through a happy use of ma- 
terials. The combination of tile roof, stucco 
walls, wrought iron railing about the porch, 
and the brick work in the steps lend a cheer- 
ful note of color. Greater vivacity may be ob- 
tained through the use of rough textured 
stucco. Heavy wooden shutters complete the 
note of informality. 


12+5°x135-0" 
BED ROOM 
Construction: hollow tile with stucco fin- aD Satay 
ish, roof of tile. The drawings also provide 


for solid brick walls with a roof of shingles. 


DESIGN 4-B-16 


HE amount of space there is in a house is more important than the number 

of rooms. This fact is particularly evident in the home pictured above. It is 
classified as a four room house, but it contains practically all the accommodations 
that can be found in a house of five rooms. There are two bed rooms of excellent 
size, The living room and dining alcove are combined and so arranged that the 
living portion of the house is really one large room nearly twenty-seven feet in 
length. Finally there is a kitchen with a built-in breakfast nook. 


ARE SHUTTERS WorTH THE 
ADDED EXPENSE? 


RE you interested in the matter of 
shutters for your new home? 


People often ask about the advisability 
of this device. Certainly if they are omitted 
there is a direct saving which may well 
amount to as much as $100 for a small 
house. Like every other thing that goes 
into or onto a house, it is well to inquire 
whether shutters are worth what they cost. 


How much service do shutters give? To 
tell the honest truth, shutters often give no 
service at all in any material sense, for 
sometimes they are nailed permanently to 
the walls. Even so they have a value as a 
means of enlivening the walls. Imagine any 
of the fine Colonial houses with which you 
are familiar without their shutters. Some 
of the distinctive qualities would be lacking. 


Colonial architecture is necessarily severe. 
It is made interesting by carefully spaced 
walls and openings and by accurate details 
of simple woodwork. The shutter carries 
out the principle of simplicity, but lends life 
to the wall through its form or color. From 
this point of view alone it may be well 
worth what it costs. 


But shutters may be something more than 
an ornament. They may be useful equip- 
ment. If you live in a region where the 
summers are hot (and where in America 
does not this apply?) a hinged shutter 
tightly closed in the summer time will keep 
out the direct rays of the sun and thus 
help to keep your house cool. Shutters are 
an architectural decoration plus a useful 
form of heat insulation. Perhaps this may 
help you to decide whether you will have 
them on your house. 


BED ROOM 
10-1GX 11-7" 


LIVING BED ROOM 
ROOM 11 7X1226° 
11-7 X15=0° 


FIRST FLOOR PLAN : 


This bungalow is to be built of 
stucco on hollow tile or common 
brick walls. Basement walls are 
concrete. Roof of tiles. 


THE Home BuiILDER’S LIBERTY 


43 


NE of the peculiarities of this plan 

is that the house can be faced as 
you desire it. The front may be the porch, 
or it may be the side with the entrance. 
Certainly the facing will be determined 
very much by the lot, but certainly also 
it would be fine if the house could have 
a generous setting. 


There is an entirely practical porch 
with a roof over it, thus making 
acknowledgment of the fact that even 
if it does not rain in California during 
the summer time, it does elsewhere. 
Rough logs are used for the ceiling 
beams of this porch. Construction: 
hollow tile, exterior finish of stucco. 


CHAnBLe 
100" 120" 


CuamBer 
_ Wes toe" 


living Room 
190" V 14'8" 
Dearmed Carling 


CHAMBER TH 
100% \I-0" 


LiviKG ROOM 
WES IT=@" 


DINING ROOM 
IE EO" 


CHAM DER. 
96x 12:0" 


CHAMBER 
IG 12-0" 


RAMBLING RANCH HOUSE AND COMPACT CITY BUNGALOW 


DESIGN 4-A-33 


ERE is an example of a distinct step in the architecture of small homes in 

America. While the majority of us have been struggling with the diffi- 
culties of Colonial and English architecture and others have perhaps more frank- 
ly expressed their thought about the proper character of a home by using the 
so-called “Western” style, out in the Southwest, especially in California, home 
builders have taken the architecture of the Spanish and have contrived an 
entirely new expression of a home, This has found so much favor in the minds 
of the small home builders all over the nation that the California bungalow 
has come very definitely into its own. To be sure, out in California, they would 
probably dispense with the porch and put in place of it a patio, and in the patio 
would be a little pool and fountain with aquatic plants and perhaps a cement frog. 


DESIGN 4-A-32 


HE picturesque character of this house is heightened by 

the heavy beams used at the porch openings. This is one of 
a number of designs, illustrated throughout the book, which can 
grow. The second story may be finished later. Construction: 
hollow tile walls with exterior finish of stucco. 


OWES LUN DRED) Db Uwe ALO wis 


Ht 


4 HHT 
ah 


DESIGN 5-B-26 


N unusually liveable home of a type that has proved 

a favorite with many home builders is shown here. 
The exterior is quaint and the plan far superior to that 
of the average bungalow. Five rooms are included besides 
a breakfast nook and sunroom. A closet bed may be in- 
stalled in the closet off the sun room. 


The sleeping quarters are large and well lighted. Ob- 
serve the large amount of closet space in the living room, 
closet for linen off the hall, closet for brooms also off 
the hall, closets for clothes in the bedrooms. 


Construction: 5-B-26, illustrated above, solid brick walls, 
roof of shingles or tile. 5-B-21, illustrated at the right, 
hollow tile walls with stucco finish above the brick base 
course. Roof of tile or shingles. Both exteriors have the 
same floor plan. 


SE fe, 


Zve 2 


HE exterior of this home is like that of design 4-B-16, illustrated on page 
42, but the plans are different. The particular distinction is in the dining 
accommodations. There are other minor variations. 

- In the basement of this home there is a den reached by a flight of stairs 
from the living room. If the owner prefers to omit the den, the working draw- 
ings give details for alternate placement of the front porch, and for window seat 
and closet in the living room in place of the stairs leading to the basement. 


Construction: hollow tile or solid brick, stucco finish, roof of tile or shingles. 


BED ROOM 
12-O% 1340" 


|DINING ROOM 


11-O'A110" 


L1Y1NG ROOM 


13+O"K 22*0* 


BED ROOM 
1°3"4 11+9” 


al 
I 
| 
) 


LIVING ROOM 
1146" x 208" 


Ie PROM ne Duthil ID Rast lees REAGREY; 


HE large living room is given 

a more spacious effect by the 
wide opening onto the terrace and 
into the dining room. The fireplace 
with its generous hearth is set back 
in a wide niche, a feature which 
also increases greatly the apparent 
size of the room. 

Both plan and exterior express ef- 
ficiency, orderliness, and love of 
beautiful surroundings. The floor 
plan is compact, convenient, com fort- 


able. 


Construction: solid brick or hol- 
low tile finished with stucco, roof 
may be of shingles, tile, or slate. 


at Sere es cla i ic else eta he 


BUNGALOW IN PICTURESQUE ENGLISH STYLE 


|BED ROOM 
10*10°, 11" 7* 


| DINING ROOM 


4 
HH 


ay 
HH 


HI 
Bai 


rr 


DESIGN 5-B-35 


HE brick chimney with its lead- 

ed glass window and quaintly 

. modelled flues, the arched entrance 

Peemene ae ta aeons F > “en tie and door with wrought iron hinges 

Sa and ornamental grill, the brick row- 

lock trim under the eaves of the 

front gable, the brick quoins at the 

corners, all show how common ma- 

terials may be combined in an un- 
usual manner. 


2 


i 
he 
S 
% 
* 
* 
e 
= 
“ 
. 
= 
# 
a 
e 


5 
t| 
j 
an 


i 


The wide expanse of casement 
windows on both sides of the liv- 
ing room, in the dining room, and 
in both bedrooms contribute greatly 
to the effectiveness of the exterior 
and the comfort of the plan. 


OnE HunpDRED BUNGALOWS 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-B-28 


FIVE SUNNY ROOMS OF GOOD SIZE 


HE three bungalows shown on 

this page and the opposite are 
so nearly similar as to room arrange- 
ment that only one floor plan is 
shown for them all. The one shown 
above is different from the other two 
in that it provides a terrace and en- 
trance to the vestibule is from this 
terrace. This is an excellent plan 
for the home builder interested in 
the California type of bungalow. 


This same general plan will be 
found throughout the book with dif- 
ferent exteriors and types of exterior 
wall construction. Note particularly 
design 5-E-1 on page 22. Although 
there are details about the plans 
which are quite different, the scheme 
of room arrangement is the same. 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-B-27 


The owner of the home built from 
design 5-B-28, illustrated above, in- 
troduced a variation not called for by 
the working drawings by substituting 
an outside door from the dining room 
in place of the front window. 


A suggested color scheme for de- 
sign 5-B-28 is cream colored stucco in 
floated finish or dashed and rodded, 
sash and doors gray, sills of light 
brown brick, roof of variegated tile. 
The iron rail and awnings for the 
terrace add to the decorative effect. 


Construction: 5-B-28 solid brick 
walls, stucco finish, roof of tile or 
shingles; 5-B-27 hollow tile walls, 
stucco finish, brick trimmings, roof 
of shingles or tile; 5-B-22 solid brick 
walls, roof of tile or shingles. 


2’-10" 


BED ROOM 
Ai oxi2 11" 


LIVING ROOM 
1241fX18-41 


BED ROOM 
Ay ittezi2cit 


ipa comE BULLE DER] Ss LtB RAR 


47 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-B-22 


LEAKS IN WALLS, PIPES AND PURSES 


How to Stop Them Before They Begin 


; é OU cannot easily withstand an un- 
controlled leak in your pocketbook. 
Neither can you long endure a leak- 

ing house. If your house leaks, your 


pocketbook may be drained. That is the 
reason for this story. 


Much of our home building effort is di- 
rected toward the prevention of leaks. Our 
walls must not leak heat, cold, wind or 
rain. Neither must our roofs—else male- 
dictions on the roofer. The pipes that the 
plumber puts in should be so well installed 
that we shall never again be reminded of 
him. When the plumbing leaks, it violates 
our confidence, besides ruining the plaster. 
Then there are smoke leaks, spark leaks, 
leaky flues. What a hazardous place is our 
home after all! 


Grow Up LIke Topsy 


These wires strung around our walls may 
spill electricity, and if they do, how long 
before we call the fire department? What 
if aur basement leaks? Then we may have 
to convert the wash tub into a sea-going 
tug and pole ourselves about the flood to 
get the dinner’s supply of potatoes. The 
more one thinks of this the more tremen- 
dous these leak problems become. Let us 
stop them all with a little horse sense. 


Perhaps not everyone can tell what 
causes a leak. But certainly anyone can 
find one after it starts. Sometimes they 
exist from the first—born when the house 
is built. Sometimes they grow up as the 
house wears down, a _ vicious brood, 
mothered by the slattern, Illegitimate Mate- 
rials, or else by Dowdy Workmanship. 


The first bulwark of the home is the wall. 
We can build it many ways. When we 
build walls we want openings in them for 
light and air, but we must be inconsiderate 
enough to require the carpenter and the 
mason to restrict the location of these to 
the more formal doors and windows. But 
even these openings will also let in the win- 
try blasts if they are not tight. The coal 


man, if he cares to do it, can name every 
home in town that has poor walls and win- 
dows by the number of trips he has made 
to deliver coal. Wooden walls without in- 
sulation or masonry walls without air 
spaces of some kind lJeak tons of coal just 
as surely as though in liquid form we had 
poured them into the sewer. 


The basement walls may not lose much 
heat, but they are often responsible for 
great loss of temper, especially so when 
cracks develop, water seeps in, and the 
basement looks as though it were time to 
call all hands to man the pumps. The wall 
cracked and leaked because the footings 
were not wide enough or the builder did 
not start them on sound and undisturbed 


soil; or perhaps we tried to save a few . 


sacks of cement in a moment of misguided 
economy. Probably the best waterproofing 
compound is more cement. Certainly it is 
better to throw a few extra sacks of it into 
the wall than to suffer the consequences of 
a flood. When there is a real waterproof- 
ing problem, how much wiser it is to have 
this solved before we build than after- 
wards! 

Midway in the construction of the home, 
the plumber, heater and gas fitter come 
along. They string pipes through the walls 
and floors, and afterwards the plasterer 
seals them in. We trust this piping will 
be faithful and silent, but do we know? 


What makes plumbing leak? Poor pip- 
ing will do it—poor jointing between these 
pipes. A quality job of piping means 
money. Every home builder is faced with 
the problem of whether he will pay ten per 
cent more for a good job when he builds 
his house or run the risk of a fifty per 
cent replacement and damage charge later 
on. 


Test BeroreE Too LATE 


It takes a skilful man to make a steam- 
tight joint in piping. A joint in water pipes 
is easier to make, but no matter what kind 


of a piping system it is, have it inspected 
thoroughly, have the joints tested by put- 
ting pressure on them, before it is plastered 
in. Then you can seal them up. Don’t 
forget them and then seal them up. 


And these leaks that come from heating 
plants and ducts are unnecessary. The 
cheap furnace will soon leak, belch forth 
smoke and gas. The initial saving will be 
quickly dispatched in extra laundry bills, 
extra doctor bills, extra coal bills. 


The flue is a prolific source of leaks. 
There should be exactly two holes in a flue 
and no more. The flue should be lined with 
tile from bottom to top. Think what hap- 
pens when soot accumulates and takes fire. 
If there is an opening somewhere along the 
stack, where mortar has fallen out between 
bricks, what is to prevent the blazing soot 
from going through this opening rather 
than out the top of the chimney? Perhaps 
this casual opening is in the attic where 
there is the usual accumulation of mate- 
rials that we do not quite have the courage 
to throw away. Fire starts and the home 
is ruined. Flue linings cost so little that 
they can hardly be found in the masonry 
bill. 


ScIENCE VERSUS GUESSING 


Leaking roofs? We cover the rafters 
with boards and over them lay almost every 
conceivable material, from paper to metal. 
There is rubber, asphalt, tar, felt, stone, 
steel, tin, copper, zinc, tile, wood, cement, 
asbestos and combinations of these. Obvi- 
ously, they do not all have the same value 
first or last, but we can have a tight roof 
with almost any one of them if it is put on 
properly. 

Let us stop our roof leaks before they 
happen by not taking a chance with ques- 
tionable materials or poor workmanship. 
Buy roofing on the basis of reputation for 
service. The best way to prevent leaks is 
the common sense way—use good mate- 
rials and good workmanship ! 


Ohvn El UND RED) 8b UNG Onwas 


BUNGALOWS IN SPANISH STYLE 


Built Around a Patio or Inner Court 


wc 


HE plan below centers around Wh 
ill! 
Hf 


the walled patio with its flagged 
walk and pool—a pleasant out of door 
sitting room amid flowers and shrubs 
—a delightful place for small chil- 
dren to play. The loggia, wide and 
cheery, may serve as a sunroom dur- 
ing the cooler months, as a_ break- 
fast room throughout the entire year. 
Construction: hollow tile, exterior 
finish stucco, roof of shingles. An 
alternate detail showing stucco over 
frame construction may be secured 


tf 


i{ { 
NW 
WiNst 


i i 


if desired. Cece Soc Vande, ‘ 
Vay) Yel Vin 1 fh { | DINING ROOM | ST eiee B 
y WA PUB Ay ply, | PEE | 120X190" | yi 
ne a) “ ! ROOK. 
| 
DESIGN 5-B-30 a 
ots | teaticon a 
LIVING ROOM AK: 
HWE tax 22°0° [e403 
AL 
! 
= T 
Ho 
| 
BED ROOM 
PATI 114k 
18:0°X2 220° 
SA TES 


HE garage is an essential part 

of the design. Heavy wrought 
iron hinges ornament the doors, 
make them interesting and attrac- 
tive. Construction: same as that 
of 5-B-34. There is also an alter- 
nate detail for stucco over wood 


DESIGN 5-B-34 


frame. 
| 
Bep Room IP 
| Wo"® 145107 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
') Dining Room tes! ssi ipa giré's 2 
) 0" 1220" ~ AREER SVS 9 id ¢-€ 
First Floor PLAN 
NSIDE and out, even to the small 
patio leading out from the living 
room, is felt the atmosphere of old 


Spain in design 6-F-16 at the right. 
Pebbled walks, bright flower pots, tiles 
are appropriate, while a linoleum floor 
of a tile design in the living room and 
a few pieces of Spanish furniture will 
add to the effectiveness of the design. 
Construction: hollow tile, exterior finish 
stucco, roof of tile. 


Se eee he eS oe ee ek 


TEs Howe Burm peR.:s lore Re AR y 


49 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL 


HOUSE SERVICE 


BUREAU DESIGN 5- 


B-20 


DIFFERENT— INTERESTING— W ELL BALANCED 


5-B-20 
L BREAGT 
a KITC fs leje) 
CLOSET J “OX10! 
10 ASE] 
BED ROOM 5 
11*6°X14-0" || DINING ROOM 
; 114% 13-8" 9 
ce) 
4 a | 
Ay oH 
g | 
LIVING ROOM 
BED ROO 13'4"X 2 20" 7 
168X140 


CLOS 


38° 1 


x Ta 


As It Looxs In Stucco 


HE original working drawings call for 

solid brick walls with stucco finish, roof 
of tile. The owner of the house illustrated 
above faced the wall with interesting brick- 
work. 


An extra sheet has been added to the 
working drawings giving a typical wall sec- 
tion for stucco over frame construction. 
The perspective at the side illustrates this 
house as it was originally designed for 
stucco. Whether the walls are of masonry 
or of wood, the effect would be about the 
same, though with the former deeper re- 
cesses could be obtained at the windows. 
A shingle roof might ‘be substituted if nec- 
essary to reduce costs. 


Can be Built in Stucco or Brick 


ERE is proof that a picturesque ex- 

terior and a splendidly effective plan 
are quite compatible. The design has the 
old world character, so much desired in re- 
cent years. 

Seeing the informal massing and appar- 
ent irregularity of the exterior of this house 
one would hardly expect a plan of such a 
directness and order. Yet here is the ut- 
most in simplicity, the effects of which will 
appear in economies in construction, and 


in household management. 


AI hy, 


Wt iH} 


i 
we 
Meee Hennes 


Ziegg GY IEE, Z AN es Mes 2 Ms 
ee pg WDE Hi 

iy, ey i ilualy Wy ini 7 A G 

yw WA NM uhh Mi a ( Mi \ 


y 


The living quarters of the house are sep- 
arated from the bedroom and bath quarters 
by a hallway, thus conforming to good 
practise in the designing of bungalows. 


The porch, opening as it does off both 
living room and dining room, affords a 
splendid opportunity for extensive use. It 
will serve as a very pleasant dining place in 
summer. Glazed in it may be used as a 
sunporch. In the kitchen there is a con- 
venient breakfast nook. 


LI A\ \ th 


Wy, wl ) / ) | 


50 


ARCHITECTS’ 


One HuNDRED 


BUNGALOWS 


Ay” 
. aN aN 


SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-B-6 


WHAT YOU DONT GET WITH A CHEAP HOUSE 
More Ways to Save On Spending and Lose On Building 


ET us suppose you get four contractors 

to bid on the plans and specifications 
for your home. Three of them are high 
grade workmen with established reputations 
for honest building. The fourth is unknown 
save for having built quite recently a num- 
ber of houses at surprisingly low cost. You 
open the bids. Three run close together. 
The fourth is off by itself—perhaps a thou- 
sand dollars below the others. What does 
it mean? Do the higher bids indicate that 
the profits of the contractors they represent 
will be a thousand dollars greater than 
the lowest bid, or do they indicate that 
these bidders are less efficient, less capable 
of getting the most for the money spent? 
Or is this thousand dollars difference to 
be taken out of the qualities named in your 
plans and specifications ? 


If this last is true you do not get what 
you should have, even though you pay 
$1,000 less for it. The house you get at 
the lower sum is not worth its price. If 
the plans and specifications were drawn in 
the first place so as to eliminate guesswork 
about what was to be furnished then the 
thousand dollars subtracted means just so 
much taken out of durability, out of low 
cost of upkeep, out of real value. Here 
are some of the things you do not get at the 
cheap price. 

First, you do not get good foundations. 
The sand or gravel is not clean or not 
enough cement is used. The footings are 
thin and rickety. Separate footings are not 
prepared for columns. Concrete bases are 
not devised for setting of wooden posts. 


What happens? The walls crack or 
crumble. The base of the wooden posts rot. 


= 45°37 


LIVING ROOM 
23°=1" x 13-0" 


Tite Roorep 


this house enclosed the 
open porch. He placed two windows in 
the front wall of the front bedroom in- 
stead of one, and used double hung win- 
dows instead of casements. Otherwise the 


drawings were followed quite accurately. 


The owner of 


The building settles. Everything above 


ground comes down. 

Second, you do not get good walls. If 
they are of wood, the braces and bridging 
are omitted—if of masonry, the mortar 1s 
weak, brick courses are crooked, bricks not 
fully bedded. Siding used to finish the walls 
is thin—inferior wood is used. Adequate 
insulation is omitted or if used is not tight- 
ly sealed. Sheathing paper is not flashed 
around the openings. Joints between 


courses of paper are not made wind and 
rain proof. Two nails are used where four 
should go. 


Then the walls get out of plumb—plaster 
cracks, mortar washes out. The brick work 
looks “drunk and disorderly.” The siding 
cracks. Walls collect moisture and heat is 
lost. You fire the furnace more often. Your 
house gets old and cold before its time. 


Third, you do not get good beams or 
joists. Bracing and bridging is omitted. 
Inferior grades of lumber are used—sizes 
are reduced. The subfloors are not run 
diagonally. Doubled joists are not run 
around chimney stacks and stair wells or 
under partitions. 

Without good supports the floors must sag 
and creak. Plaster will crack. If your con- 
tractor uses 2x8’s in place of 2x10’s for the 
second story floor joists you cannot find the 
difference in the lumber bill, but you can 
find it in the cracked ceilings. Light pieces 
to support heavy loads cannot be seen when 
nicely painted over. But they show up later 
on. 

Fourth, you do not get good plaster. The 
lath are not spaced properly for plaster 
keys. Lower grades of lath are employed. 
There are no metal reinforcements at an- 
gles and in corners. Then the plaster is 
too thin. It is not pressed into the lath 
spaces. It is not finished straight and true. 
Tool marks show. The edges of the plaster 
show around the casings. 

Common plastering is not a fine art, but 
fine plastering is not common. If you get 
a cheap job it will crack, bulge, come loose, 
fall off. Poor lath stain plaster. Where the 
reinforcement is omitted there will be a 


rere EGOmiEne OsUslea Die RewSm lott BR wAsRY Ws 51 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE 


crack. Rough places in the plaster will al- 
ways show. 

Fifth, you do not get good roofing. Thin 
flat sawed wood shingles are substituted for 
the thick edge grain quality specified, or 
lightweight felt and asphalt composition 
shingles displace the heavier weights of this 
type of roofing. Metal flashings are not 
turned under the siding or into brick work. 
Drain troughs are of lighter metal not 
pitched to drain. 


Then the shingles curl, let water down, or 
catch fire brands and your house burns up, 
or the metal rusts out, the roof leaks. 


Sixth, you do not get good painting, or 
paint is put on too quickly or in coats that 
are too thick. Substitutes are employed. 
The paint film itself is of poor quality, not 
brushed into the wood. Nail holes are not 
puttied up. Sanding between coats -is 
omitted. You can tell a cheap job every 
time. The paint film crazes, chips, and 
falls off, collects soot and dust too quickly; 
knot holes show through. 


Seventh, you do not get good millwork. 
The wood finish is rough and splintery. 
Pieces that should be locked together are 
only nailed. Hammer marks show. Doors 
and drawers do not fit. Stairways are put 
together with nails instead of wedges and 
glue. Floor boards are not driven up close 
together. The floor is not sanded smooth. 
Woodwork is not thoroughly kiln dried. 
Pieces to be stained are not selected for 
grain and color. 


There is as much difference between 
grades of millwork as there is between au- 
tomobiles. Your cheap contractor buys his 
where it costs the least. Of course it is 
splintery, drawers do not pull readily, the 
stair squeaks, cracks appear between the 


LIVING ROOM 
19-0" x 13°07 


Tite Usep FREELY 
Tile is used freely throughout this 
house. The roof is covered with tiles 
in variegated reds and tans, window 
sills are of red shingle tile. Large red 
quarry tile ornament the vestibule floor. 
Tile in dull red tones form the hearth 
of the fireplace. 


“cabi- 
Doors 


flooring strips. The wood in the 
net work” shrinks and falls apart. 
peel off. 


Eighth, you do not get good plumbing. 
Joints are not caulked tightly. The pip- 
ing itself is too thin. Pipes are not prop- 
erly pitched to drain. The enamel finish 
on the fixtures is rough and uneven. The 
frame work of the house is cut for pipes 
without regard for consequences. 


BUREAU DESIGN 5-B-31 


Then look for leaks and ruined decora- 
tions. Be prepared to call in the plumber 
to rod out stopped piping, to worry over fix- 


tures you thought were to be the best. The 
hacked out joints may fail. 
Ninth, you do not get good heating. The 


furnace is not set properly. Joints are not 
made gas tight. The pipes are not insu- 
lated. Pipes are not pitched to drain, are 
too small. Light weight metal is used. 


It may look like the finest job, but it 
leaks gas and smoke, ruins your draperies, 
takes more coal to heat. Or the radiators 
knock—do not heat quickly. 


These are only a few of the things you do 
not get. As you read them over no doubt 
you will see that they are principally mat- 
ters of workmanship, though in some cases 
inferior materials are substituted. Unless 
you are a technically trained man and know 
materials and workmanship, or have some- 
one on the job to represent you who does 
know these things, the cheap contractor can 
do his worst without your being aware of 
it. The lowest bidder may be the most ex- 
pensive one. 


Checking back then on the bids re- 
ceived, it can be seen that the man who 
offered to build your house for a _ thou- 
sand dollars less than the others was not 
more efficient, had no better opportunity 
to buy his materials at lower costs, and 
had probably not figured to take any less 
profit on the building of your home. He 
got the job by undercutting the price with 
the intention of getting out by beating 
the game a little everywhere. 


There are thousands of such houses in 
every city. Their upkeep is enormous. 
You spend your home building money but 
once in your life. Do not waste it. 


OnE HuNDRED BUNGALOWS 


DISTINCTION FROM A FEW WELL DESIGNED FEATURES 


Rough Texture Stucco Widely Used—Should Be in Quiet, Good 
Taste, Not “Arty” 


DESIGN J-B=2) 


EXTURE in stuccoed surfaces has attained great favor in recent years. By the use of it a 

play of light and shade is given stucco planes rendering them far more interesting than the 
older smooth surfaces. These textures should be attuned with the architecture—not overdone. 
Most of the “arty” effects grow tiresome. The use of color with roughened surfaces has also 
helped to bring a life and vivacity to our smal] house architecture. 


The arched recess in the dining room may 
be used for book shelves or serving table. 


Livine Room 
1S*O" X1 FO 


The exterior of this design gains 
distinction from a few unusual 
features—the doorway, flagged 
walks, terrace floor, wrought 
iron grills, rough textured stuc- 
co, and variegated shingle roof. 


HE living reom fireplace built of brick and stone is pleas- 

ing because of its very simplicity. Living and dining room 
walls plastered with sand finish; bed rooms and hall painted 
a stippled effect. All rooms excepting bath and kitchen 
painted light sand color with woodwork dull finish enamel, 
which produces a deeper color note than walls. 


The kitchen is well lighted by four casement windows. The 
hooded recess for the stove connects with ventilator in the 
roof. There is generous kitchen cupboard space. Construc- 
tion of this house is as follows: tile walls, stucco finish, roof 
of shingles. Basement is partially excavated—may be more if 
desired. 


Ab avis 


Eo Ee Biter Dp ER Se laiiB ROANR EY 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 5-B-23 


WHy SPECIFICATIONS PROTECT THE HOME BUILDER 


PECIFICATIONS are a written agree- 

ment between you and your contractor. 
They state in specific terms how the con- 
tractor is to build your house, the kinds of 
materials he is to use, and the quality of 
workmanship he is to supply. They tell 
him just what he is to do, and therefore 
make clear to him what his expense will 
be. In brief, specifications take the guess- 
work out of home building. 


Specifications, are used in home building 
to supplement working drawings, to take 
up the building operation where the plans 
leave off. It is impossible to describe in 
detail every operation of home building 
upon a set of working drawings. The plans 
give dimensions, sizes, the arrangement of 
all the parts, but they cannot describe the 
quality and grades of materials, the 
methods of installation, all the types, kinds, 
and sizes of equipment. 


The specifications are in two parts gen- 
erally. One is called “The General Condi- 
tions.’ The other might be called “The 
Specific Conditions,” though it has not been 
given this name. The first part includes 
such items as the foreman, supervision of 
the work, the protection of the work and 
property, various forms of insurance, etc. 
Imagine building a house without an un- 
derstanding with the contractor on these 
many scores. Who is responsible if some- 
one is hurt? How will matters be adjusted 
if the house burns down while in process 
of building? Suppose the neighbor’s ter- 
race caves in. What will be done if the 
sidewalk or curb is damaged ? 


How will mechanic’s liens be handled? 


_ DINING ROOM 
14'0" x 12'0° 


LIVING ROOM 
20'0" x 15'0" 


Low, RAMBLING EFFECT 


The low rambling effect of this house 
gives a feeling of largeness, yet it is not 
large. Observe the kitchen with windows 
on three sides and the breakfast alcove. 
There is a fireplace in the living room and 
spacious wardrobe closets in the bedrooms. 
Construction: Walls of solid brick or hol- 
low tile, stucco exterior, brick trim, roof 
of shingles, slate or tile. 


Suppose there is a fundamental disagree- 
ment between you and your contractor. 
Who will settle your differences? There is 
a standard form which deals with this 
particular group of subjects, which, as 
stated before, is known as “The General 
Conditions of the Contract.” It has been 
prepared. by The American Institute of 
Architects and may be obtained from any 
stationer. 


After “The General Conditions of the 
Contract’ come the subjects which deal 
with the way in which materials and work- 
manship should be applied. They state what 
the mixture of concrete shall be, how much 
shall be paid for brick, the grade of the 
lumber, the quality of the flooring, the 
number of coats in the plaster. Suppose 
you have only a verbal understanding with 
your contractor that he is to supply oak 
floors. Do you know what you would get? 
Oak flooring is made in five different 
erades—more if you count the quarter- 
sawed varieties. All are sound, but one of 
them is suitable for a factory and another 
for a palace. Which would be supplied? 


These things cannot be left to guess or 
accident, and it is not fair to leave them to 
the faithfulness of the contractor. No mat- 
ter how good a man he may be, it is not 
just to expect him to supply a fine grade of 
all materials unless a corresponding price 
is paid for them. When these grades are 
fixed by specifications, he knows what he 
must supply and therefore how to estimate 
costs, and you have a right to require deliv- 
ery of what you agreed to pay for. It is 
clear, clean, orderly, businesslike. 


OnE HuNnvDRED BUNGALOWS 


Low, RAMBLING, BUT WELL ORGANIZED 


OT every house that aspires to an English character reaches its 

aspirations, but this house does have an English quality of a most 
distinctive sort. It is a type of architecture which has remained in style for 
centuries. It is not the product of passing fancies. The low rambling effect 
of this bungalow exaggerates its real size. In reality it is a small house. 


There are six rooms, although one of the bedrooms is called a sleeping 
porch. By special treatment of window openings in this room a real out-of- 
door sleeping apartment may be obtained. A large fireplace in the living 
room adds qualities that make home enjoyable. Observe also plans on pages 


33 and 53. 


Construction: Solid brick finished in stucco with brick trimmings, or full 
brick walls if preferred. Roof can be treated with shingles, slate or tile. 


LIVING ROOM 
15-O°% 22to”* 


BED ROOM 
r2soOr 3b 


DESIGN 6-B-26 


The English house is a growing house— 
that is, it extends into bays and angles as 
the years pass to meet the requirements of 
families who live in it. The effect of these 
extensions taken as a whole has a rather 
picturesque and informal quality. That is 
one of the outstanding differences in ap- 
pearances between the English cottage and 
our own Colonial architecture. A side 
view shows the terrace with awning and 
screened porch for summer use. 


leh Ec eLeo mM be BiG mht bDip RR Se elB R AUR SC 


55 


ARCHITECTS SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-A-62 


How To BUILD YOUR HOME For LESS 


OMETIMES our home builders find 

that the bids offered for the building of 
their hoped for new homes run too high. 
By investigating these cases we learn that 
there are two principal causes. The first 
is the difficulty of picking out the right 
contractor. The second is the difficulty of 
making suitable changes in the plans and 
specifications to reduce costs. 


The answer to both these questions is the 
sanie. Study your problem. It takes time, 
but this time is worth money to you, and 
you are justified in putting a lot of it in 
your home—the only home that you will 
probably ever build. 


Investigate contractors. Find one who 
has a reputation for honest building and 
whose prices through efficient management 
are low. It may take a little time to find 
this man, but there is almost certainly such 
a person in your community. Look for 
him. Do not sign up with the first man 
you deal with. Get others to figure. Give 
them all consideration and then use your 
best judgment. But choose on the basis of 
quality every time. 

As to reducing the cost of the house 
itself, we can only repeat, “Study.” Study 
the plans and specifications. If you were 
contracting to buy a washing machine or a 
phonograph or an automobile, you would 
read the contract form from first to last. 
. You would know every word in it and 
probably know it by heart by the time you 


Study, More Study, Stell More Study 


BED ROOM 
10-OX12-6 . 


BED ROOM 
O-3X13-0 


BED ROOM ||| 
0-0 XIFO 


UPPER PART 
LIVING ROOM 


CALIFORNIAN MANNER 


This home has a high living room with 
lofty beamed ceiling and exposed raft- 
ers. It is two steps lower than the 
other rooms of the first story. Above 
the fireplace is a wrought iron balcony. 
Construction: Exterior walls of hollow 
tile, finished with stucco, tile roof. 


had signed it. The contract documents 
that you sign when you build your home are 
the plans and specifications. Read them. 
Know everything that goes into them. 


Our plans and specifications have been 
prepared to suit the largest number of peo- 
ple under average circumstances. Study 
them over carefully to see that they contain 
everything that you want to have. See 
what they call for that you do not desire. 
If there is an excess of millwork, too elab- 
orate heating or plumbing systems, omit or 
substitute for these features. You can re- 
duce the cost of almost any five or six 
room house at least 20% by eliminating 
extra items. Study them with your mill- 
man, with your plumber, with your heating 
contractor. 

Sit down with your general contractor, or 
far better with your architect, and see what 
he can offer in the way of sound substitu- 
tions that will not change the architecture 
or substantial quality of the building. 


There is no justification for the millman 
to figure your plans for “special millwork” 
just because he does not happen to stock 
what is commonly carried and called for. 
Through agreement with you he should 
make substitutions of the stock he does 


carry. Here is a way for you to keep costs 
down. But in order to do so you must be 
entirely familiar with the plans. Read 
them. Mark them. Be sure you under- 


stand them from first to last. 


56 


OnE HuNnpbRED BUNGALOWS 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-B-27 


Woop, BRICK, STONE CHANGED INTO BEAUTY 


HAT sort of result issues from the architect’s alchemy? He mixes to- 

gether walls, roofs, windows, chimney stacks on his paper crucible. From 
it must come order, direction, beauty. Anyone can mix up these elements, but 
only an architect can make the proportions such that lasting beauty remains. 
The more skillful he is the more beauty he gets. 


In the home illustrated above is an expression of the alchemy of architecture 
by which gross materials of wood, brick and stone have been transmuted into 
pure beauty—in a word, into architecture. See how well the plan elements are 
disposed, how direct the communication, how clearly the architect has visualized 
the special uses of each of the rooms. 


Construction: Hollow tile walls, exterior finish stucco, brick trim, roof of 
tile. The casement window frames may be of frame or metal. 


|T | LIVING ROOM 


130" X 20°0° 


SOL 


ie tepaEh Omen Deu ER Gms TB REA REY 


on 
NX 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-A-93 


WHAT AN ARCHITECT THINKS OF BRICK 


“How happy could I be with either, 
Were t’other dear Charmer away.” 


particular possiblities belong pe- 
culiarly to brick; no other material 


HESE lines from an old ' 

song exactly express the 
case of the architect when asked | 
to tell why he likes any certain | 
kind of building material. En- 3 1 
thusiasm expressed for one does 
not necessarily mean a lack of 
enthusiasm for another. He can | 


We Ae Oe 
= 


DEDRDOW~ DRoom 


offers anything quite like them; 
and few materials offer anywhere 
near the variety of effect possible 
with such simple means. 
Analyzed, these possiblities re- 
sult chiefly from color and tex- 
ture, qualities inherent in the ma- 
terial itself. To them should be 


LIVING ROOM 
14407 ADO 


easily content himself with which- 


ever of the several “charmers” 
fate may wish on him, knowing 
that the resources of each, though 
different, are sufficient unto them- 
selves. 

Supposing the “charmer” of the 
moment to be brick, what then are 
his reactions? 


has the comfortable feeling in 
using brick that he is not being 
extravagant. Even the more ex- 


Aikoht FLOOR 


CEILING HEIGHT 


BuNGALOW Facts 


A six-room bungalow with sunporch and sleeping porch, 
showing some English influences in the roof lines, case- 
ment windows, half timber work. Construction: common 
brick walls laid “rolok’’ and painted. Shingle or slate 
In the first place, the architect roof. Basement under major portion of house. This 
design also may be secured in frame construction with 
stucco finish in home plan 6-A-6. 


added the imposed quality of pat- 
tern. Those imposed qualities of 
form and proportion so essential 
to stone and wood are of relatively 
small importance in brick. There 
cannot be got with brick the same 
kind of beauty that can be got with 
stone or wood: there must be 
sought only that kind it is capable 
of giving. But inside its capacities 
what a wealth of beauty lies! 
Different clays, burned in differ- 
ent ways, give an infinite variety 


7K 


TERRACE 


= ee 


pensive bricks are relatively cheap 

in the end, considering their dura- 

bility. And there is the further consideration that some of the 
cheaper varieties are very effective. Witness, for instance, the 
dramatic picturesqueness of “skintled brickwork” as lately devised 
by Chicago architects. 

There is further satisfaction in the indubitably proven fact 
that brick is practically indestructible. For actual resistance to 
weather and fire nothing has yet been devised to surpass it. Cen- 
turies of exposure serve only to enhance its beauty. Brick is 
now being dug out of cities that existed more than 5,000 years 
ago, and the brick is still good. 

But undoubtedly the greatest appeal of brick to the architect 
lies in the possibilities it offers for decorative effect. These 


of colors. Different surface treat- 

ments, different joint sections, give 
the flecks of light and shade that make texture. The uniformly 
sized blocks, laid in different geometrical combinations, give 
almost any kind of pattern that ingenuity can devise. 

Designing with brick is like playing with hundreds of little 
islands of glowing color, set in rivers of contrasting mortar, 
woven into subtly sensed patterns, and all textured with little 
points of light and shadow. 

And if visible justification is needed for the architect to en- 
thuse over this sort of play, there exist, among countless other 
examples, the patterned walls of Italian churches centuries old, 
the plum-colored facades of English colleges, and the mellow- 
walled houses of our own Colonial days. 


58 OnE HUNDRED BUNGALOWS 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-B-16 


A COMMON PLAN, BUT AN UNCOMMON DESIGN 


RICKS are here laid without gauge lines. The roofing 

of shakes is in keeping with the brickwork. There is 
an uneven yet harmonious texture and quite unusual ap 
pearance due to this treatment. 

The house on the opposite page was built from the same 
drawings but finished in stucco. Homes built from this 
strictly rectangular type of plan are frequently common- 
place. These homes, however, because of the high pitched 
roof, good proportion, careful working out of small details 
are distinctive, and will hold their own. 

Construction: The original drawings call for hollow 
tile, stucco exterior, brick veneer to first floor window sills, 
roof of tile. Solid brick walls may be used as shown above. 


SLELDING 
PORCH . 


IFG@X 10-0 


KATCHLN 
SOKW-0 + The illustration at the 

: right shows how success- 
ful this house can be 
when built with common 
brick in solid walls and 


laid in staggered pattern. 
DINING ROOW | Srp. ROON If you think of brick of 

ISG kG f oRSe \ even size laid in straight 
courses with mortar 
joints all alike, you may 
see here what fine effects 
may be obtained by disre- 
garding tradition. Re- 
member that it takes a 
master to break the rules 
successfully. 


Die Home Birt pb R*s 1B RA RY 


Bo 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-B-16 


DON’T CHANGE THE DRAWINGS 


ESIGN a state capitol, and if a few 

little things are off—not as fine as 
they should be—not much damage is done. 
The building as a whole is on such an 
immense scale that if the architecture in 
general is good we can forgive an occa- 
sional error in minor things. But this is 
not true in small houses. The architecture 
of a small house is so intimate, so close to 
the eye, and for that reason grasped so 
completely in all its detail, that what would 
be a small error in a state capitol, almost 
impossible to find, becomes of major con- 
sequence in a home. Certainly each one 
of the five or six windows in the front wall 
of a small home is more important to the 
design than one of a hundred in a state 
capitol. So it is with the moldings and 
cornice, the overhang of the roof, the door- 
way, the way the porch comes on. Unless 
the architect can control these things, es- 
pecially in a small house, architecture is 
likely to go flying away. 


RovuGH SKETCHES UNSAFE 


Yet it is truly remarkable how often the 
architect’s carefully drawn designs are 
changed or thoughtlessly set aside by home 
builders, who, if they realized how disas- 
trous these changes might be to their homes, 
would no doubt be as vigorous in seeing 
that they were not perpetrated as the most 
conscientious architect. 


Too often we see houses which have just 
missed being beautiful because of a mis- 
guided enthusiasm on the part of the owner 
to have on his home something that he has 
seen and admired on someone else’s home. 


Changes in design not carefully studied in 
relation to the house as a whole, are rarely 
successful, even from the home builder’s 
point of view. The rough sketches made 
by contractors for changes of this kind are 
necessarily only approximate, do not have 
the balance and proportions, the breadth of 
good taste of drawings made by the men 
who designed the home in the first place 
and who have devoted their lives to an at- 
tainment of competence in creating archi- 
tectural forms. 


Beauty THAT SATISFIES 

After studying the houses in this book 
do you not agree that the architect is an 
extremely important influence in their suc- 
cess? All the refinements of plan and ex- 
terior have come about through careful 
study. The forms of the different parts 
are determined by their relationship to each 
other. Not every house can have a wide 
projecting cornice or bay window or cov- 
ered stoop at the doorway because other 
things about the design simply may not 
carry these forms. Balance might be lost if 
they were added. All depends on the par- 
ticular design. 


An architect invariably strives for per- 
fection. He thinks of his profession as one 
of the fine arts and not as mere building. 
If beauty is not achieved—a beauty that 
completely satisfies the eye and mind,—if 
the forms, masses, and details are not man- 
aged to accomplish this end, then archi- 
tecture is missing. The edifice is a build- 
ing, not architecture. It is not the little 


things that make architecture, but architec- 
ture may be lost on account of little things. 
Remember that fine small house architec- 
ture does not come by guess or by accident. 


We are trying to show home builders 
how, by attention to those many details 
which seem so minor, their homes may 
have beauty, permanence, and comfort, 
which is well worth the slight increased 
expense involved, if any, and the time and 
energy necessary to carry them out. No 
doubt the most direct way to achieve this 
result is for the home builder to insist that 
the architect’s drawings be followed with 
absolute faithfulness. The architect is best 
equipped by training and experience to de- 
termine the forms the parts should have. 
The contractor or builder has eminent tal- 
ents for the management of building. The 
functions of the architect and contracter 
should not interfere. 


Ask Your ARCHITECT 


We by no means wish to give the impres- 
sion that the entrances, or cornices, or win- 
dows shown on the plans illustrated in this 
book are the only ones possible for these 
designs. That would be far from the truth. 
If the owner does not care for certain fea- 
tures he is perfectly justified in saying so 
and asking his architect to design some- 
thing different. What we wish to stress is 
that the architect is the man to rely on for 
revisions in drawings, just as he is relied on 
for the original drawings, the general con- 
struction, and all the other details that 
make a house beautiful and give it distinc- 
tion. Ask your architect. He knows. 


° 


60 


ORE | EGeN DIRE Dib UNG AL Onwes 


DESIGN 6-A-82 


le many families it is necessary to have a first floor bedroom 
and lavatory, but it is not always possible for these rooms to 
be so advantageously placed as in this house. Like most mod- 
ern kitchens, this one is well lined with built-in cupboards, and 
one sunny corner is arranged for a breakfast nook. 


The wide cased opening separating living and dining rooms 
is always a popular arrangement. It increases the sunny, 
spacious effect of the first floor. 


The construction of this house, like the one below, is brick 
veneer on wood frame with roof of shingles. 


Two SIX-ROOM HOMES OF BRICK VENEER 


DESIGN 6-A-11 


279 


LIVING ROOM 
We sue 


HE home shown above is designed upon straightforward economical lines, yet 

it has an agreeable atmosphere of dignity and substance. The entrance door- 
way is particularly pleasing. The handsome small paned glass door is recessed a 
little as in a frame, and the arch contrasts with the sharp pointed gable above. 
The wrought iron door lamps and the old-fashioned solid white shutters are small 
but important details that increase the charm of the exterior. 


Other houses with practically the same plans but with different exteriors are 
illustrated on pages 34 and 35. Design 6-A-82 shown above has a similar plan. 


THE Homer BuitpEer’ s LIBRARY 61 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-B-20 


HOousES LIKE THIS NoT ACHIEVED BY GUESSWORK 
Plan, Walls, Openings and Roof In Tune 


}{||Steerpinc Poecr | 
9-8 *12°0 


KitcHen 
I3-O%*%9'S" | 


A) CHAmMaece 
12°e 2:0" 


Dining Room 


12-0 * 13 6° 


Laying Room 
1S-O* (3G 


CHAMBte 
IO" 1230" 


CONSTRUCTION FaAcTs 


This plan provides six rooms and _ bath. 
One of the rooms is in reality a sleeping 
porch. In the kitchen there is a dining 
alcove. The door between the kitchen and 
rear entry slides into a pocket. The base- 
ment is planned for excavation below the 
kitchen. A full basement can be provided 
if desired. 


Construction: hollow tile, stucco finish, 
brick base course. A 45 foot lot required. 


HERE are two ways to build a bungalow that is different. One of these is 

to “jazz it up’—to build it full of trick balecnies, overhanging cornices and 
arches. The other way is to put some architecture into it. The little house 
illustrated here is different because it has architecture. 

The plan, walls, openings, and roof all belong to each other. There is a fine, 
workable plan with the conveniences that modern American home life demand. 


Foetal 


DESIGN 6-B-19 


Here is the same plan with solid brick walls. The house retains the same pleasing propor- 
tions and charm but with a different exterior finish. Designed to face West or North. Can 
be reversed for other facings. 


OnE HUNDRED 


BUNGALOWS 


ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU DESIGN 6-B-13 


STEEP GABLES AND CASEMENT WINDOWS 


HE steep gables and casement win- 

dows of the exterior suggest the Eng- 
lish cottage and make an unusual and inter- 
esting treatment for this bungalow. The 
house is most efficiently planned. It has 
the privacy of a two story house and the 
compactness of a bungalow. The living 
facilities are commodious. The design pro- 
vides for three bedrooms, a large well light- 
ed living room, a delightful dining room as 
well as a dining alcove, and a complete 
kitchen. The basement has an extra fin- 
ished room, as well as a large den with a 
fireplace. 

The living room fireplace is well located 
at the end of the living room where it is 
out of the main line of traffic. The well 
lighted entry way, the coat closet off the 
living room and the extra closet space in 
bedrooms and hall add additional values. 


One advantage belonging exclusive- 
ly to the bungalow is the elimina- 
tion of stair climbing. It is amaz- 
ing how many trips one makes up 
and down the stairway in the 
course of a day. To many people 
this is not the least objectionable, 
but some housewives believe it not 
only tiring, but inconvenient. They 
prefer having the bedrooms and 
bath available without the interven- 
tion of a stairway. 


sed cent Os 


BED ROOM| 
i} 11-OX11°6" | 


BED ROOM |— 
10°6°K 13+0' 


| KITCHEN 


8-6'X 11-6" 


BEDROOM 
1O‘EX12-°6 


LIVING ROOM 
13*O X 20-0! 


SS Or 4 


There are certain advantages that are 
possessed by bungalows which are not held 
in common with other types of small 
houses. One of the most important of 
these is gained from its low lying character. 
This gives it an air of hominess. It re- 
lieves the design of pretentiousness. Two 
story houses are often Jess expensive to 
build, but when they are of small size, the 
shallow depth often makes them seem un- 
reasonably high. This, of course, is diffi- 
cult to overcome since ceiling heights must 
be maintained. A bungalow such as this 
one lies close to the ground and, properly 
relieved with planting, may seem to be a 
part of the site itself. When you select a 
plan visualize the completed house in its 
setting. Get the picture ot trees, terrace 
and garden and the views trom the win- 
dows. Then make your choice a wise one. 


The construction provides for ex- 
terior walls of brick. Tile may be 
substituted for that part of the wall 
for which the exterior finish is stuc- 
co. The suggested color scheme is 
red flash brick for base course and 
quoins with white stucco in floated 
finish and with woodwork painted 
blue green. The cornice is painted 


white and shingles in variegated 
tones of gray green and _ reddish 
brown. 


4b igeae > Ashe) Wi ab ABS oracie toys ine Sh amare 


63 


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 


Twenty-Seven Questions from Prospective Home Builders with Brief Answers. 
These Questions Ave Among Those Most Often Raised. 


Get Goop PLASTERERS 


O.—What is the best way to avoid 
cracks in plaster? 

A.—Most important factors are good 
foundations and good framing. After this 
the method of lathing is important. Lath 
should not be placed too close together. 
They should be wet. They should be rein- 
forced at all interior angles with metal lath. 
The plaster itself must be high grade, put 
on in sufficient thickness. Good plastering 
requires good plasterers. 


Wet WALLS Sroit FINISH 


O—Time taken for the plaster to dry 
before other work is done seems to be 
lost. How long a period is required? 
A—No woodwork should be installed in 

a house while the plaster is drying out, no 
matter how long this takes. Woodwork 
will be ruined if it is put on damp plaster. 
A delay of two or three weeks or even 
twice as long is of little consequence in 
comparison to the benefits obtained by wait- 
ing. : 
For RESALE VALUE 


O.—What are the features that help 
to scll a small. home? 


A.— Desirable location is of the greatest 
importance. The plan should be of a type 
such as is commonly desired, providing a 
large living room with a fireplace, dining 
room, kitchen, dining alcove, and two or 
three bedrooms. The house should have 
sound construction so as to preserve the 
permanency of the building. You cannot 
sell a house to an observing person no mat- 
ter how beautiful it may be if it is not well 
constructed. If you do not build the house 
extravagantly you can afford to sell it at a 
price which will interest the largest num- 
ber of people. 


. FRAME JOISTS FoR PIPES 


O—The plumber cut several joists 
near the middle to put in a pipe. Is 
this not dangerous? What can be done 
to fix it? 

A.—In a properly planned building it is 
not necessary to cut joists. Excessive cut- 
ting of these members is dangerous. There 
should be no cut more than two feet from 
the bearing of a joist. No cuts should be 
allowed that materially affect the strength 
of the beam. Your contractor should not 
have permitted the plumber to cut the joists. 
It is his responsibility. Make him put in 
additional members. Call your building in- 
spector’s attention to the detail. 


Prepare Woop For PAINT 
O—How many coats of paint are 
necessary for interior woodwork and 
for exterior walls of houses? Are there 
certain rules to be followed in prepar- 
ing new wood for painting? 


A.—All outside woodwork should have 
at least three coats of paint. Inside wood- 
work may have three or more, depending 
upon what finish is desired. New wood for 
painting should be cleaned, and free from 
stains that may afterward show through 
the paint. All the knot holes should be 
sealed up with shellac so that the pitch will 
not afterward exude through the paint. It 
should be sandpapered down and made per- 
fectly smooth and clean. Above all it must 
be dry. 


KNOCKING RADIATORS 


O—Can you tell 
knock? 

A.—The most common fault is lack of 
definite drainage in the piping system. If 
the pipes are pitched so that the water of 
condensation cannot drain from the radia- 
tors, it will stand in pools through which 
steam will be driven with explosive force. 
Radiators sometimes knock because the 
valves are not in working order or are not 
fully open. 


why radiators 


Wuicu Heatinc PLANT 


O.—Various heating concerns offer 
heating plants that differ so much in 
price and quality that it is difficult to 
know how to make a choice. IVhat is 
the answer? 

A.—Make a choice of heating plant type 
based on your own preference. They will 
all work. Some are more flexible than 
others, some more uniform, some take more 
coal, etc., but buy the product of a reput- 
able manufacturer. The cheap heating de- 
vices and the poor methods of installation 
are not worth what they cost. Talk it over 
with an architect. 


CostLy INSULATION 


O.—IVhat is the best type of insula- 
tion for a house that has to be sold 
cheap? 

A.—Insulation might just as well be 
omitted if it is not of good quality and 
put on right. The poor man who buys a 
house that has not been properly insulated 
on the representation that some insulation 
has been used, pays a double price for his 
poverty. 


INSULATING EFFICIENCY 


O—Please give information about 
the different types of insulating mate- 
rials. How do they compare with each 
other with regard to efficiency? 
A.—Insulating materials may be classified 

under three headings. One is a mattress, 
a loosely bound pack of insulating material 
usually backed on both sides with heavy 
paper. Another type is a semi-rigid form 
that does not require paper backing. Either 


of these two types is placed between the 
studs and ceiling joists. The third type is 
a wall board unit of rigid form nailed over 
studs and joists. As to efficiency, tests 
have been made by laboratories of Univer- 
sities and by the Department of Standards, 
United States Government. Reports of 
these tests may be obtained from these 
sources. 


Deep Joists FAR BETTER 


O.—Plans call for 2%10 floor joists 
for the second story. The span is 12 
feet. The wood is to be pine. Could 
2x8's be substituted with safety? 

A.—2x8 joists for a 12 foot span are 
barely sufficient to avoid cracking of the 
plaster. If the floor is unduly loaded, or if 
there are partitions to support, this size is 
too small. You spend hardly enough addi- 
tional money for 2x10 joists to find it in 
your lumber bill. Why take a chance? 


Stucco on TILE WALLS 


O.—What is the best way to build a 
tile wall with stucco finish? 

A. Get well burned tile, three cells in 
thickness and either strip them on the in- 
side before plastering, or else use tile in 
which the mortar joint is interrupted. Set 
them in good mortar, use high grade stucco 
for the finish put on strictly in accordance 
with the manufacturer’s directions. 


Mopern BrAcepD FRAME 


O—A house in New England built 
150 years ago is still in good condition. 
Many of the wooden houses built much 
more recently are not in as good condi- 
tion as this old home. Why? 

A. This old home may have been built 
of better materials, but more especially it 
was cross braced. The walls and floors 
were bridged so that they could not get 
out of alinement. Modern construction of 
small houses has again appropriated to its 
use the braced frame principle of the old 
Colonial building whereby diagonal pieces 
are run across the studs at the corners of 
the building. The floor joists are adequate- 
ly bridged to hold them in alinement. 
Wooden houses built in this way have their 
usefulness greatly extended. Depreciation 
is reduced. The extra cost is negligible. 
Instruct your contractor to put diagonal 
picces in all exterior wooden walls. 


Don’t BuiLp on a Fitri 
O.—Neighbors have filled up with 
ashes where was once a swamp. Will 
it be all right to build on this? 
A.—Not unless foundations go down to 
solid ground. We advise you to build else- 
where. 


64 


Damp BASEMENT WALLS 


O.—How can dampness be kept from 
seeping through cellar walls? 

A.—See that the ground is pitched away 
from the building at the grade. Be sure 
that the rain conductors are properly con- 
nected to the sewer or else that water is 
discharged away from the building. Apply 
waterproofing compound to the outside sur- 
face of your walls. Set tile footing drains. 


Keep Woop Posts Dry 


O—Should wooden bearing posts in 
the basement be set directly on the foot- 
ings and with the cement basement 
floor worked up around them, or should 
the posts be on the floor? 

A.—WNeither of these methods is correct. 
Bearing posts should be set on foundations 
raised at least four inches above the finished 
basement floor. Otherwise they will rot 
and let the framing down, thus seriously 
damaging the building. 


Footincs For ALL WALLS 


O—It is claimed that footings are 
not necessary under foundation walls 
that are a foot or more in thickness. 
How about it? 


A.—Footings should be used. They are 
an insurance of a stable wall. They should 
be at least eight inches thick and project 
from each side of the wall five or 
inches. 


six 


SouND SPECIFICATIONS 


O—In a set of specifications there 
are blank spaces to be filled out. How 
can a home builder, knowing little about 
building, complete these specifications 
and select the right material? 


A.—Employ an architect to advise you, 
or consult with an experienced contractor, 
who has a reputation for high grade work. 
Use only those materials made by manu- 
facturers who guarantee satisfaction. If 
you employ an architect have him also in- 
spect the building during the process of con- 
struction. This will undoubtedly save you 
time and money and be an assurance to 
you of getting your money’s worth. 


Forms oF AGREEMENT 


O.—Where can standard contract 
forms to be used in building a house 
be obtained? 


A.—These can be obtained from almost 
any first class stationer. If your stationer 
does not carry them, write to The Ameri- 
can Institute of Architects, Octagon House, 
Washington, D. C. Send 15c for each copy 
ordered. 


Drawincs Not ENoucH 


Q.—Are_ specifications necessary if 
one has a complete set of working 
drawings? 

A.—The drawings tell what kind of build- 
ing is to be built, but they do not tell how 
it is to be done. They carry only part of 
the information needed by the contractor. 
On the other hand, the specifications tell 


OnE HuNvDRED BUNGALOWS 


how all the construction is to be followed 
out. They tell what quality of materials 
is to be used. They also include general 
agreements which you must have with your 
contractor, such as liability for damage, in- 
surance, cleaning up the premises, methods 
of payment, and so on. You invite trouble 
by building without a complete specification. 
Employ an architect to help you draw them 
up. 


PLAN BEFORE BUILDING 


O—IVhat is the best kind of plan 
for a foundation already set 38x26? 
Where can I get it? 

A.—You have the cart before the horse, 
as you probably already know. The foun- 
dation is supposed to fit the house, not the 
reverse. Employ an architect. He may be 
able to work out a plan since the dimen- 
sions you give for your foundation are not 
unusual. Do no more work on the walls 
until the plans are finished. 


WHat Is PRACTICAL? 


O—A_ speculative builder said the 
other day that a “practical house” costs 
less than an “architectural house.” Is 
this true? If so, why cannot an archi- 
tectural house be practical? 


A.—There is a misuse of terms here. 
True architecture is essentially practical. A 
real architectural house is one that has a 
commodious plan, substantial construction, 
and beauty of proportion. It would be 
more correct to distinguish between houses 
as “architectural” or “impractical.” Adding 
ornamentation will of course increase ex- 
pense, but the absence or presence of orna- 
mentation is not essential to true architec- 
ture. The so-called “practical” houses are 
often poorly designed as to plan and section 
and poorly built. The construction may be 
cheap at the beginning but the final cost is 
high. 


How Mucs For a Lor? 


O—How much should you spend for 
a lot? 


A.—The answer depends largely on the 
extent to which the lot is improved. If all 
the improvements are in, such as sidewalks, 
water, electricity, gas, sewage, and so on, 
the cost of the lot may reasonably run up to 
20 per cent of the total cost of the house 
and lot. It should not exceed 25 per cent. 
If these improvements are not in, the lot 
may sometimes be obtained for a price not 
in excess of 10 per cent of the total cost. 
The principle is not to put an expensive 
house on a cheap lot or a cheap house on an 
expensive lot. A well constructed house on 
a cheap lot is more desirable than a poorly 
built house on an expensive property. Do 
not neglect the character of the neighbor- 
hood in choosing a lot. 


Lot FRONTAGE VALUES 


O.—In selecting a home lot, how can 
one be sure that it is worth the money 
asked and that it will not decrease in 
value later on? 


A.—See what the restrictions are. Find 
out whether anybody can build a shack 
nearby or a store or anything else that 
would depreciate properties generally about 
the location. Note the trend of the demand 
for lots such as you are thinking of buying. 
Make sure of the proper present valuation 
of the proposed lot by finding out what the 
adjoining properties are held for. Get a 
lot that is high and dry, preferably with 
trees on it. Future improvements such as 
sewer, water, paving, and so on will have 
to be added to the value of the lot. How 
much of this do you get now? 


First MorrcaceE Money 


O—What is the usual amount of a 
frst mortgage? 


A.—The maximum sum to be borrowed 
in this way depends upon the kind of prop- 
erty and the character of the borrower. 
Some types of financing companies lend 
more than others. The amount varies be- 
tween 50 and 75 per cent. 


BUILDING AND LOAN 


O.—Please give information concern- 
ing the purpose and operation of build- 
ing and loan associations. 


A.—This is a company particularly de- 
signed to help home builders finance their 
homes. It is built on the principle of mu- 
tual interest. Persons with money to in- 
vest pay into the common treasury monthly 
sums as installments on the purchase price 
of stock in the company. Other persons 
building homes borrow from this general 
fund on first mortgages and pay back both 
principal and interest in monthly install- 
ments. This is considered by investment 
experts one of the best ways of financing 
a home, of saving money. 


Home Buitpine Risk 


O.—How much risk is there in build- 
ing a home? 


A.—There is a story of a man who years 
ago came to Broadway at Times Square, 
and who decided to wait until he believed it 
safe before crossing the crowded street. 
Twenty years have passed and it is said 
that he is still waiting there for the psy- 
chological moment. Building a house is a 
safe proposition if you do not allow your- 
self to be carried away by fads and fancies. 
Follow the middle of the road and you can- 
not be pushed into a bad bargain. Do not 
overstep your limits to pay. If you observe 
the rules of common sense there is not 
much hazard in building a home. 


Be SurE OF THE Cost 


O.—Please advise the way to pay off the 
contractor as the building is erected when 
the owner is supplying the money. What 
reduction is made for cash? 

A. Houses are customarily built for 
cash. Even though the money is borrowed 
by the owner, he pays the builder at 
definite intervals as the building progresses. 
The general arrangement is to pay 85 per 
cent of the cost of materials and labor 
supplied to the job during the previous 30 
days. The final 15 per cent is paid 30 days 
after the house has been finished. 


tatkeecOsd LO BUILD THE HOUSES 
APPEARING IN THIS BOOK 


ENDORSEMENTS 


HAVE looked into the work of 

The Architects’ Small House Serv- 
ice Bureau of The United States. 
with its divisions and branches, and 
have examined its organization and 
incorporation papers. The complete 
plans, specifications, documents and 
bills of materials, with the design; 
worked out for local conditions and 
to use stock materials and eliminate 
waste, materially simplify home 
building problems. The form of con- 
trol by The American Institute of 
Architects should guarantee a high 
standard of service. It gives me 
pleasure to endorse this work and to 
assure you that the Department of 
Commerce will do all it can to co- 
operate with the Institute and the 
Bureau. 


HERBERT HOOVER, 
Secretary, Dept. of Commerce, 


United States Government. 


HE Architects’ Small House 

Service Bureau idea originated 
in and is approved by the American 
Institute of Architects, and in order 
that the development of the idea 
may retain the character of a pro- 
fessional service and be prevented 
from assuming the character of a 
purely commercial undertaking, the 
organization of the Bureau involves 
a certain control of its policies by 
the Institute. 

“This control exists solely through 
the right of the Institute to appoint 
a majority of the Directors of the 
Bureau, such appointees being able 
thereby to impose policies consis- 
tent with the expressed wishes of 
the Institute. 

“The approval of such _ policies 
does not carry with it any interest 
in or approval of any specific acts 
of the Bureau in the development of 
its operation, nor any financial in- 
terest or control whatever. 

“The approval of the Bureau by 
the Institute means: 

“(a) That it approves the idea 
only. 

“(b) That it assumes no respon- 
sibility for the designs, plans, speci- 
fications or other service of the 
Bureau any more than it assumes 
responsibility for the service of in- 
dividual members of the Institute. 

“(c) That it assumes no respon- 
sibility for nor does it in any way 
presume to endorse any organiza- 
tion with which the Bureau may do 
business, nor any type or types of 
building construction or materials 
involved in houses designed by the 
Bureau. 

“The Board looks upon an archi- 
tect’s work in a Bureau as primari- 
ly a contribution to the improve- 
ment of the small house architec- 
ture of this country, involving 
houses of not more than six primary 
rooms.” 


THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE 
OF ARCHITECTS 


Board of Directors 


Please Read Carefully 


Sa prospective home builder you are concerned with costs. 
You want to know exactly how much your home is going 
to cost before you build, even before you spend money 

for plans. 


Building costs depend upon local markets, the quality of the 
materials selected, the finish and equipment that go into the house, 
and the contractor who builds it. Variations of as much as 30 
per cent in the cost of houses built from the same plans in the 
same city frequently occur. 


Broad general estimates of cost can be given you by the 
Bureau for the houses appearing in this book, but it is impossible 
to give accurate figures. No amount of guessing by the most ex- 
pert guesser will give you the information you must have. The 
only way to find out is to have contractors submit proposals to 
build, based on the actual working drawings and specifications of 
the house. 


The Architects’ Small House Service Bureau is prepared to 
help you obtain these building costs.. Any Bureau plan may be 
obtained for inspection and estimating for a period of 15 days, 
with the privilege of returning the plans if you decide that you 
cannot afford to build. A fee of $5.50 is charged for this inspec- 
tion and estimating privilege. If documents are worn or soiled, 
a small replacement charge is required in addition to the $5.50 fee. 


The method of obtaining Bureau plans for inspection and 
approval is as follows: You are asked to deposit the original cost 
of the documents based upon the service charge of $6.00 per prin- 
cipal room. Add 50c more for packing and postage. Thus, the 
charge in connection with a five-room house is $30.50. Your check 
or money order for the full amount is deposited and held during 
the 15-day inspection and estimating period. If the drawings are 
returned in good condition, $5.50 is deducted to cover the inspec- 
tion and estimating fee and the balance returned to you. Thus, 
for a very small fee you are able to inspect the plans, obtain build- 
ing costs and decide whether you wish to build or not. If the 
drawings are retained the transaction is complete and the original 
deposit covers the cost of plans. 


A complete statement covering Bureau service has been pub- 
lished under the title of “Our Answers to Questions Home Build- 
ers Ask.” It will be forwarded upon request. Please direct your 
communication to the publisher whose name appears upon the 
front cover of this book. 


TITLE ORGANIZATION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PLANS APPEARING IN THIS 
BOOK: NAMELY, THE ARCHITECTS’ SMALL HOUSE SERVICE BUREAU, 
IS THE ONLY AGENCY OF THE KIND IN THE UNITED STATES CON- 
TROLLED BY THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS AND 
ENDORSED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 


The Architects’ Small House Service Bureau 
Trade Mark Registered of the United States, Inc. 


